In which Tim Bowness of No Man fame and Giancarlo Erra from Italy’s Nosound get together to blend the former’s breathy dreamy vocals to the latter’s laid back spacey soundscapes and guitar playing, all ably aided and abetted by the multifarious talents of Robert Fripp, Colin Edwin, Steven Wilson (mainly production duties), Peter Hammill, Julianne Regan and others. With a cast like that it is difficult to see how this could fail, and it doesn’t let you down!
Starting off sounding like a more full on No Man album, no bad thing, the sound fills out as we move from song to song. Giancarlo* gives the title track, apparently a leftover from the No Man album Schoolyard Ghosts, a searing guitar break, and the following song Lucky You, Lucky Me ends with a lovely melodic guitar run that fades out well too soon. Fripp starts the swoonsome Change Me Once Again with some trademark stylings, some of Tim’s love-ballad-from-space poetry follows, then a Giancarlo solo – absolutely gorgeous!
Some plaintive trumpet and sax on Lost And Found In The Digital World over Fripp’s soundscapes lend the song a world-weary feel, existing only in bytes and floating away to somewhere more restful, free of self - “It’s time for letting go..” and peace is found. More gorgeousness!
Four of the songs here have been released in very different guises by No Man, but the album has a cohesive, optimistic and organic feel of its own. Some of lyrics are direct, some oblique, most are relationship based as you would expect if you know Tim’s work with No Man. An album of beautiful dreamprog if ever there was one – oh no, is that a new category?
I got this at the same time as A Scarcity Of Miracles by Jakszyk, Fripp and Collins, and they make for perfect companions. Another candidate for album of the year, no question.
*All the credits for guitar parts are my semi-educated guesses!
Read Tim Bowness’ blog on how the album came together here.
Three of the songs are on Soundcloud here.
Track listing:
- New Memories Of Machines
- Before We Fall
- Beautiful Songs You Should Know
- Warm Winter
- Lucky You, Lucky Me
- Change Me Once Again
- Something In Our Lives
- Lost And Found In The Digital World
- Schoolyard Ghosts
- At The Centre Of It All
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