OCEANARIUM

This really comes across as a homage to Mike Oldfield, and unfortunately for me I'm not a big Oldfield fan. As highly as this has been rated by the majority there's little here that does anything for me. This just isn't my kind of music. Should have sampled it first. I still get a kick out of the fact the drummer here is Patrick Gaffney who I knew from his CHAOS CODE days, loved that band. Anyway Patrick has played on a number of Dan Britton projects. The album cover is one of my favourites from this year, so there's that. DELUGE GRANDER is pretty much a trio with many guests helping out. I believe there are 8 musicians helping out here playing a variety of horns and strings mostly. 80 minutes of music!

"A Numbered Rat, A High Ledge, And A Maze Of Horizons" hits the ground running after a pause. The guitar isn't in the style I like and the synths are high pitched which I also am not into(haha). Is that harmonica? Anyway the song has many tempo shifts with lots of guitar, piano, synths and drums. The calm starting before 3 minutes features trombone and bass with the piano to follow. Oboe 6 1/2 minutes in then guitar to the fore after 7 minutes.

"Drifting Inner Skyline Space" has a relaxed sound to it with a slow beat. Cello helps out along with the bass and more. I like it best after 7 minutes where we get some space with electric piano, bass clarinet, cello, guitar and more. It then picks up again.

"The Blunt Sun And The Hardened Moon" is uptempo with sax over top. High pitched synths replace the sax unfortunately then a brief calm before 2 minutes. The sax is back around 3 1/2 minutes. The sound might be at it's heaviest on this album before 5 minutes, and it's not heavy. The piano leads before 5 1/2 minutes. I'm not into the lighter sound that follows a minute later. I do like the sound before 9 minutes though and we get what sounds like mellotron that follows. Back to that uptempo sound before it settles back before 13 minutes to the end.

"Finding A Valley In A Grey Area In A Map" is a song I like early on with the bass and flute. Violin before a minute and the piano is fairly prominent at times. An Eastern vibe before 3 minutes then it picks up in pace.

"Finding A Shipwreck In A valley In An Ocean" opens with bass and piano, kind of jazzy actually. It becomes catchy with violin helping out. The music swells after 5 minutes.

"Tropical Detective Squadron" has a light and humerous sound to begin with. Again the high pitched sounds are prominent that bug me throughout. I really like when it turns darker before 3 1/2 minutes, a nice change. Sounds like mellotron, electric piano and a beat that follows. So good! The high pitched sounds are back changing the mood.

"Marooned And Torn Asunder" opens with oboe and other intricate sounds. Guitar too. Oboe to the fore after 2 1/2 minutes as it settles. Beautiful stuff. Nice guitar melodies before 4 minutes then more oboe. The guitar after 5 1/2 minutes goes on and on.

"Water To Glass/ The Ultimate Solution" is majestic sounding with piano and horns early on. Strings too, then eventually after 4 minutes it's piano only but atmosphere, oboe and more follow in this mellow section. We get some Oldfield styled guitar coming and going on this one especially after 5 1/2 minutes. Lots of piano before 8 1/2 minutes and cello around 10 minutes.

Clearly a grand work for Dan Britton. I can't even imagine the work that went into this. Bottom line though is that I'm just not into this style of music.