KENNY MITCHELL

Having recently reviewed Kenny's last two albums, of course the time is now right to go back to what is his best-selling work, 2013's 'Voyager'. It contains just two "songs" of 25 minutes in length, along with a small demo track at the end. Kenny provides all the instrumentation himself, and what is fascinating is the way he can bring in Floydian keyboards and Gilmour style guitar, or he can be driving the bass to create something which is pulsing and dramatic. It is the contrast between the different styles that makes this such an interesting album, as while crossover prog is a great way of describing it, sometimes it can be very symphonic, and it would be possible to edit sections out that would make the listener feel that they were listening to something from 'Animals' era Floyd.

Although generally the production is very good indeed, and wonderfully sympathetic to the sounds being created, it is very much let down when it comes to the way the drums have been treated. For me the album actually works best when there are no drums at all, as while there are times when the drums are fine, there are plenty of others where they distract from what it quite a powerful piece of work. When the keyboards are providing a backdrop, the bassline is being slid up and down, the rhythm guitar provides the crunch, and there is an overdriven guitar solo, then that is when this album works best for me. I've only come across Kenny fairly recently, and he is yet another musician worth investigating. Don't believe me? Check out his albums on Bandcamp and see what I mean.

After reviewing Kenny's most recent album, 'The Light and The Dark', I am now listening to his 2017 instrumental release, 'Cinematica'. The album title is very much in keeping with the songs on the album, as one can certainly imagine them being used as film soundtracks. The first and last of the three songs are more than 28 minutes in length, sandwiching a three minute ear cleanser and the time given to these pieces really allows Kenny to stretch his musical wings. When it commences, one is immediately drawn to the music of Jean Michel Jarre, as the music progresses (literally) then it becomes far more similar to Tangerine Dream. Here he allows his ambient keyboard soundscapes to mix with floating guitar lines to create something which really allows the listener to drift away.

This is definitely not an album I would recommend playing in the car, as I find that when listening to this I become incredibly relaxed and am drawn into a different world. It can't be treated as background music, but is an album that does demand close attention and time being spent just to play and enjoy the music for what it is. Headphones, a nice large glass of your favourite spirit, and then allow yourself to drift into a quite magical, atmospheric world that still has plenty of dynamics.

This is the latest release from Kenny Mitchell, who has been playing music for well over forty years, but only started recording his own material in 2001. This is his eighth album since then, and while he provides all music, he is joined by Nathan Jon Tillett on vocals from Napier's Bones. They met by chance a few years ago when Mitchell was going through Soundcloud and came across Tillett's page. This album contains two lengthy (more than twenty minutes long each) instrumentals, plus two shorter songs with vocals. It was one of these that led to this being a connected album, as when Nathan provided the lyrics for "Where Do I Go" he based them loosely on the story of the Charlotte Dymond murder which occurred on Bodmin Moor in 1844, and for which her spurned lover Matthew Weeks was convicted and hanged in August of that year. There was some controversy and speculation surrounding the conviction which is still discussed and debated today, more than 170 years later. Mitchell says: "Nathan's lyrics were so powerful and effective for the song that I decided to likewise loosely arrange this entire album around Charlotte and her story, and especially to try to give her a happy ending of some sort, if only an imaginary one. "Charlotte's Journey" describes her re-awakening after death and her travels through the void towards the shining light in the distance, "Where Do I Go" tells the story of her murder while "Reflections" and "The Waterfall" are given over to her killer who after the trial and conviction is given a short time to reflect on his deeds and his fate.

Given that Mitchell is first and foremost a guitarist, with keyboards being very much a secondary instrument, I was rather surprised to hear them so much to the fore, as there are times during the instrumentals when he comes across as Jean Michel Jarre, which is not what I expected at all. But, it does make sense given that this is a very atmospheric album, and the spoken words that feature in the opening epic works incredibly well with that backing. In some ways the album feels almost like three separate pieces of work, with the areas where synths are to the fore being one, when the guitars are off and running (as they do in "Reflections") is another, while the vocal area is a third. In some ways this means that as a whole the album can feel a little disjointed, and I would personally rather that Mitchell keeps these albums as pure instrumentals, which would allow the flow to be better throughout, and for him and Tillett to set up a separate project for where they record albums together. Overall this is an interesting release, and as with all his other albums they have all been released on Bandcamp so I suggest that progheads should give them a try.

Very good instrumental album. I would classify this under the label of 'electronic crossover prog' if such a genre exists. There's plenty of synth sequencing and rich sounding layered pads throughout which are perfectly blended with some beautiful guitar work which brings a number of well known guitar players to mind as obvious influences.

There are three tracks on this album as well as a bonus track on the Bandcamp download.

My only real minor gripe with the album is that the two main tracks are perhaps somewhat unimaginatively named as 'Pt 1' and 'Pt 2'. Each has a run time of over 28 minutes so definitely not aimed at those listeners with a shorter attention span who prefer their songs to be no more than 3 minutes or so.

The third track ; sandwiched in between Pt 1 and Pt 2 and aptly named "Interlude" is much shorter at only 3 minutes and is a beautifully structured ambient and delightfully atmospheric short synth piece.

Both of the long tracks are fully action packed with plenty highs and lows and are diverse enough throughout their entire length to hold the listeners attention right to the very end.

The bonus track which comes with the download is named as "Cinematica Pt 2 : Youtube mix and also provides a youtube link to a section of that track which the artist has re-recorded especially for youtube.

In summary ; lovely stuff if you like long instrumentals of a kind of cross genre approach.

Perhaps not exactly in the prog rock genre but this is an album which is well worth a listen from an almost completely unknown and underrated guitarist and keyboard player.

The self produced album as with all of this artists albums is a digital release only and consists of 2 long instrumental tracks of slightly over 28 minutes each, both of which contain elements of classic sounding guitar wizardry ala Joe Satch, Dave Gilmour, or perhaps Gary Moore (or maybe all of 'em combined) sitting right alongside Tangerine Dream and/or Jean Michel Jarre. The album as it's title suggests is rather cinematic in concept and is a bit different from the more prog or metal style of this artists previous releases. Each track on the album is a journey which is well worth taking, and if like me you like the long tracks like 'Close to the Edge' or 'A Change of Seasons' for example, but without the singing, and you're kind of tired of listening to the same old stuff again and again and on the lookout for something new, this could be for you. It's on all the streaming sites including Bandcamp, itunes and spotify so give it a try if you fancy.....well worth it.

This album is very different from this artists other offerings and isn't prog by any description. It is however a nice little listen if you fancy a reflective quieter moment. It's quite orchestral and has lots of gentle piano work in it, and no guitars or drums at all. In terms of composition it's not the most highly technical of works, and it's not going to appeal to the most diehard of prog fans who prefer to listen to outstanding feats of syncopation and time signature wizardry, but as I say - it's really just not that type of album, and it is a pleasant little listen for late night background chilling out.

The latest offering from the criminally underrated Brit guitarist and keyboard wiz Kenny Mitchell.

Five tracks in total covering 53 minutes.

Four out of the five tracks are instrumentals with the fifth having a vocal line from guest artist Nathan Jon Tillett who has collaborated with Mitchell on previous work.

Along similar lines to his previous releases this is an album of genteel and elegant, somewhat vintage sounding prog with occasional angry bits sprinkled liberally throughout to keep the listener on their toes.

On the guitar side of things, there are many influences which can be heard, ranging from super fast Satriani style soloing to more pyrotechnic Vai styled guitar work - particularly on the long (24 mins+) opening track.

Tracks 2 and 3 are much more keyboard dominated and as with the previous album I reviewed from this artist, we can again hear the powerful Vangelis meets Jarre type of influences on the keyboard work with lush sounding pads and big soundscapes all wrapped up in a package of phasers and flangers on full overdrive - lovely. Guitars are still present on these two tracks although considerably more sparsely than on the other tracks, a deliberate ploy to highlight the artists keyboard skills by making the axes take a bit of a back seat..? Who can say, but this sparseness perhaps makes the guitars even more dramatic sounding at the points when they do make an appearance.

Track 4 is a kind of guitar/keyboard duel type of arrangement with guitar and keys taking turns at the solo spot - guitar definitely wins out in the end I think though which is no surprise as Mitchell always insists that he is a guitarist first and a keyboardist second.

On the final track we have some more delicate 12 string and 6 string acoustic guitar work throughout as well as the aforementioned vocal appearance. This is a beautiful track which builds up to an emotional and powerful climax, tapering off to end with just the piano and the vocal - shivers running down your spine type of thing.! More vocal work like this on your next album please Mr Mitchell.. !

As with the previous review I wrote for this artist, I would once again have trouble categorizing this album as it has so many different ideas, styles and apparent influences popping up all over the place, but if put on the spot I would say it was a kind of (mostly) instrumental BJH meets Rush with a bit of Yes thrown in with Satch standing in for Steve Howe much of the time and guest appearances from Jarre and Vangelis on the keys.

Conclusion : Very fine indeed and well worth a listen. 5 stars.

Available via the artists page on bandcamp on a pay what you want to pay basis.

An eclectic mix of Instrumental guitar tracks spread over 50 or so minutes which the guitarist/keyboardist describes on his Bandcamp page as a collection of old ideas which have been re-recorded for this album. Some of the songs on this work date back to Mitchells earliest playing years when he states he was still at school and used to jam around with a couple of friends using Fender and Gibson copy guitars and basic amplification. What I find quite amazing about that concept is how he can actually remember things that he played back in the early 1970s as a youth, because I certainly wouldn't be able to do that - I can hardly remember yesterday.....clever.

Back to the music : with this offering we have a somewhat eclectic mixed bag of 1 : rock - as described by the tracks "Ice" "The Bat", "The Cream Egg Song" and "One New Years Eve". 2 : Jazz (sort of) as described by "Big Als Song" which is named as a tribute to guitarist Al Di Meola, and "DADGAD" . 3 : Blues in which we see another tribute track with the title of "SRV" ( for Stevie Ray Vaughan)

Mitchell also shows his more sophisticated and cultured side with the "The Snow Leopard part 7" : an atmospheric piece with a cinematic feel, apparently taken as an excerpt from a larger project which he originally recorded at the beginning of the 1980s. He also demonstrates his acoustic guitar skills with the Steve Howe inspired "Jazzy Rag"

We also have a short and powerful track called "The Chase" which is the heaviest track on the album.

From listening to this album it is clear to me that Kenny Mitchell is a talented and versatile musician who has several album titles already under his belt and I look forward to listening to more from him.

Well worth checking out.

Consisting of 6 instrumental tracks of varying length which I will outline below.

Track 1. Death of a Nation : 22.33 mins. Moving from blues to rock to psychadelic to acoustic, and finishing off on a raucous, but melodic, note. This track has a little bit of everything with some very tasty guitar and keyboard work throughout..

Track 2. The Time Between : 05.38 mins. a gentle respite of flowing dreamy pianos and clean guitars which follows on nicely from track 1.

Track 3. Resurrection : 16.19 mins. The title track begins with some solo fingerpicking acoustic guitar in the style of Steve Hackett before moving into an equally Hackett - esque atmospheric intro which would have easily fitted into the Spectral Mornings album.

From there it follows a vaguely similar format to the opening track, moving from straight forward rock to a Wakeman/Howe style atmospheric section of dreamy keyboards and clean swelling guitars to finally finish with a long ambient passage, again with some very nice lead work and big sounding keys.

Track 4. Pink Moon Rises Pt 2 : 05.44 mins. Keyboard intro moving into orchestrated 12 string guitar section, and finishing off with a very definite nod to Pink Floyd in their more accessible moments. If you like the guitar work in Comfortably Numb, this is kind of similar - big solo played in simple pentatonics with a very big sound : lovely stuff.

Track 5. Seagulls : 02.39 mins. Shortest track on the album, built around fingerpicking guitar and fretless bass with a little bit of dreamy flute work in the middle.

Track 6. End Piece : Closing track, again built around acoustic guitar with that same dreamy piano which was exhibited on track 2. There's a nice sort of backwards atmospheric guitar break in the middle of this.

a nice collection of instrumentals from a relative newcomer to the genre and well worthy of addition to any collection.

Some interesting sounding music on this album which might please the more mature listening audience and also those with a penchant for days gone by who might be familiar with the sounds of the big hard rock and prog bands of the 1970s : Genesis, Floyd, Deep Purple etc, as that - to my ears at least - seems to be where the major influences and ideas are coming from on this album. Having said that however, there is a nice section dedicated to 9/11 in the middle of track 1 so maybe not all of the ideas on it are necessarily based in 1970s music.

6 tracks in total with a couple of really long ones at 23 minutes and 17 minutes. Total run time is around 58 minutes so reasonably good value for money there.

It's my opinion that some of this music would be really good for soundtrack or film material as it's highly atmospheric in places, particularly on the shorter tracks 'The Time Between', 'Seagulls' and 'End Piece' which are very ambient and cinematically styled.

The more conventional prog tracks ' Death of a Nation", "Resurrection", and "Pink Moon Rises Pt 2", are loaded with great guitar and retro sounding keyboard work, namely Hammond Organ and Moog Synthesiser, as well as some orchestral strings and horns. . The whole is underlaid with a good strong rythm section providing solid drums and bass, some of which is reminiscent of the playing style of Chris Squire.

In conclusion I would say that this is a fine piece of work which should appeal to a wide range of listeners across the whole of the prog spectrum, and I recommend it especially to fans of instrumental music.