FUCHS

Fuchs is a personal project of the German composer and multi- instrumentalist Hans-Juergen Fuchs. In fact, he personally participated in the creation of avant-garde rock for a long time, helped his wife to set up a new avant-garde band named Ines in the early 90s, the style was close to IQ, Pendragon, Tony Banks's keyboard effect was obvious, the wife's band A total of four albums have been released, and I am still thinking of Erik Norlander. Returning to himself, he has been committed to the creation of musicals for many years, mostly designed for school performances. In 2012, for the first time, he published his first professional "Leaving Home" in the name of Fuchs, the concept is the story of his grandparents, involving the Nazis. The second is "The Unity Of Two," in 2014. The concept is the many layers of the human soul. Musically speaking, in addition to the influence of the new avant-garde, there is the feeling of Camel and PF (in terms of instrumental performance and atmosphere). Most of the songs have a folk tone, gentle and psychedelic, and sound more pleasing (no harsh, of course not) What heavy metal) is also popular, so it can be said that it lacks some real avant-gardeness and uniqueness. This year's new album called "Station Songs" has three 10-minute epics. From the cover and song titles, the concept seems to be related to the subway station. The opening epic The Invisible Man is atmospheric and very nice, but German English needs to adapt, and it seems that listening to the lack of some real highlights and touch the soul moment. The keyboard at the beginning of the second song Even If The Salary's Low is very good. The expressions of multiple synthesizers evoke the classic symphony orchestras of the 70s. In the end, there are some strings and it is a better song. The third solo, So Many Days/The Great Divide/Under Suburban Skies, is lackluster. The title of the fourth short song, "Crowded Boats on Silent Sea", I think is a good expression of the psychological picture of human groups in the subway operation. The fifth Why Me? is popular. The sixth epic How Could I Just Ignore Him?/The Night And The Dark And The Pain had a typical folk opening, the middle saxophone still had some flavor, and the atmosphere was somewhat close to pf. The seventh I'm On My Way Again is still a folk orientation, but I can't accept German English. The eighth Sleepwalking Man is more dynamic and the final keyboard is still bright. The last Will Come What May seems to be a remake of the previous one - most of the album's songs are a template: folk songs, pop vocals, keyboard solo. Overall, this is a record that sounds pleasing to the ears. However, in the area where the cross is shaken, everyone appears to be in the crowd, and the overall Samsung rating is half.

The Unity Of Two is the latest release of the German project Fuchs. In fact Fuchs is the name behind his 'manager' Hans-Jürgen Fuchs. Fuchs may be a new name in the scene (having release 2 albums since 2012) but Hans is recording since 1994 with his wife under the name Ines.

I didn't hear their first album Leaving Home (2012) so this is my first exposure to Fuchs music. And couldn't be better.

The Unity Of Two was released in June last year by German label Tempus Fugit and it tells a story, a story of two friends: Aaron and Ray. The concept deals with friendship and the many layers the human soul has. The album follows Aaron's way of life and his travels while his friend Ray stays at home. Later they are reunited and share all the experiences both had during their separated period.

The Unity Of Two (2014) has an amazing line-up with Munich-based musicians. Besides Hans-Jürgen Fuchs (acoustic and electric guitars, lapsteel, bass, keyboards, backing vocals) we have two singers who play the two characters of the story, Baggi Buchmann (Aaron) & Michael Wasilewski (Ray). And as the backing band Andy Bartzik (electric guitars), Florian Dittrich (drums), Henrik Mumm (cello), Rafael Sonntag (violin) and Mirjam Michutta (backing vocals ).

The Unity Of Two (2014) is an amazing and stronger album with superb musicianship and a story that flows really well. Some of the vocal styles reminded me of old Marillion (Fish phase), which is a plus, and the instrumental is almost Neo Prog, although not quite. The music in general is calm and dreamy. The album has many acoustic parts and the music just flows. And it helps a lot that the booklet of the CD is really pretty and because of all the old bicicle pictures it makes it really a pleasure to go through the pages.

I have one little complain though. I really think The Unity Of Two (2014) was one of the strongest releases in 2014, but the album clocks 65 minutes long. I always say this and will always, because it's true: long albums have always fillers. The Unity Of Two (2014) could lose at least 10 minutes of music and that wouldn't really affect the album. If that would be the case this would be a 5 stars album! But, anyway, that's is just my personal opinion.

Even though the album is longer than what I would have liked it to be I still can say this with certainty that all Prog Rock lovers who enjoy some calm Prog will love this album (especially who likes Neo Prog): this is an amazing album!

And you know what you do with amazing albums, right? You listen them! So do it!

After helping his wife Ines with her productions for about a decade, Hans-Juergen aka Hansi Fuchs decided that the time to launch his own solo project had come.Using his surname as his artistic moniker and supported by the German label Tempus Fugit, he released his first album ''Leaving home'' in 2012.This was a concept work dealing with the story of his father as told by his grandmother, starting from a romantic love affair in 1920, passing through the Nazi's power in 1933 and ending up with his expulsion from Silesia in 1945.Hansi plays keyboards, bass, drums, handles some lead vocals and drum programming in the album, while he receives help by some guest singers and musicians, of course his wife Ines Fuchs is among them, providing a synth solo as well as one of Ines's first singers, Baggi Buchmann.The bulk of this work was recorded at Hansi's own studio, while some of the guests recorded their own parts in other recording places.

There are some serious reasons of course that this album is loaded with deep feelings and emotional moments, but for another reason Hansi appears to have given strong emphasis to the vocal parts of the album, sacrificing the depth of the music or some instrumental variety in the name of the lyrical content.Fuchs' first album sounds nothing like his wife's efforts, although both share the same sense of melodious themes and solid songwriting in an accesible way.I can compare this with part of CAMEL's discography through the 80's and the 90's and the new trend of Neo Prog bands, even Steve Hogarth-era MARILLION, where sound effects and pop sensibilities have a decent place among the progressive tunes.As a whole, Fuchs' debut has a very modern approach, sometimes with a slow CAMEL-esque mood, other ones containing evident FLOYD-ian undertones in the guitar parts, while the spirit of Neo Prog is also alive in here with second-era MARILLION or PALLAS and COSMOGRAF being good comparisons.The atmosphere, as aforementioned, ranges from dramatic melodies to thrilling singing, always driven by a strongly emotional story, but some instrumental depth and tension are to be desired.There are certain tracks in here with a beautiful atmosphere and a great, progressive content, like the extremely dramatic ''Life's in balance'', which lies somewhere betwen PINK FLOYD and GENESIS, and the farewell ''Leaving home'', which starts as a ballad with orchestral vibes in the background, before bursting into a grandiose electric CAMEL/PINK FLOYD/GENESIS enviroment with some pretty great guitar work.

I expect much more from Hansi Fuchs.His past experience with Ines and the pair of great tracks in here show that this man can compose some really great music.''Leaving home'' heads mainly to lovers of concept works, who don't mind some poppy injections into a more dramatic, Neo Prog musicianship...2.5 stars.