Spirits Burning and Clearlight - The Roadmap In Your Head Review by Gary Hill
There is quite a range of sound here. It is all definitely prog rock, but within that realm there are things like electronic music, folk prog, space, fusion and more. Most songs are instrumental, but there are a couple with vocals (the last one male, while the earlier vocals are female). This album is a bit strange, but very cool.
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Track by Track Review
The Roadmap In Your Head
Trippy kind of psychedelic meets electronic music opens this. That said, there is plenty of organic stuff here, with a bit of a world music vibe. There are some classical tid-bits that come across near the end of this compelling opening instrumental piece.
Sun Sculptor & The Electrobilities With little bits of voices in the mix, this is much more of an electronic piece. There are more vocals later, sort of whispered ones over the top, as the cut gets more energized. It drops back down at the end.
The Birth of Belief Piano really drives a lot of this piece. It creates some classically styled melodies over the top of a more electronic backdrop. We're taken into more of a folk prog movement as the piano loses its controlling grip on the piece. It has some fusion vibes as it carries forward. Piano does come back for some of the melody later, but it doesn't have the same dominating role.
Coffee For Coltrane There is more guitar in the mix here. This is much more of a fusion turned mainstream prog rock styled number. I love the horn soloing on this thing. The whole tune has a great groove to it, really. The cut includes some exceptional keyboard soloing, too. There is a mellower, textural section at the end.
Isolation In 10 80 This is a shorter cut that lands more in the vein of folk prog. It has some real vocals. It's an intriguing number that's a nice change.
Mrs. Noonness There is a bouncy sound to this that has elements of electronic music mixed with country and more. This is another that has quite a bit of folk prog in the mix.
The Old College Sky Is Where We Left It At just under a minute and a half in length, this is the shortest piece here. It's textural and pretty.
Fuel For The Gods In contrast, this epic piece runs for more than 13 minutes. It comes in with a folk prog meets fusion kind of element and grows outward from there in fine fashion. The folk prog seems to dominate as it continues, with world music guiding it to a large degree. Further down it gets into some killer jazzy sound. Then it works outward from there with more folk prog musical explorations. It gets quite powerful and involved as it continues to evolve.
Early Evening Rain The world music and folk prog elements are the ones driving this mellow and melodic piece. This is quite pretty and actually reminds me of early Alan Parsons just a bit.
Black Squirrel At The Root Of The Staircase Dramatic and rocking prog leads out of the gate here. This is high energy and one of the most compelling pieces on show. It works into weirdness mid-track, but eventually emerges on the other side with powerful mainstream prog jamming.
Outsiders Parachute In There are some intriguing retro aspects at play here. This has plenty of folk prog and world music in the mix, too. Some jazz gets add into this in places, as well.
Deja Vu Trippy, but energetic, prog merges with fusion on this number. The drums really shine, and there are some weird (but cool) things.
La Rue Inconnue This is definitely based heavily in space rock. It's packed with class and energy.
Roadmaps (The Other Way) Another cut with vocals, this time they are male. This feels like some of the weirder, trippy mellow side of Hawkwind. It's dark and rather bizarre. It's also very cool.
