It is rare that a debut sounds as confident and complete as this one does and Chris Braide (vocals. Keys, effects, guitar), Ash Soan (drums and percussion) and bassist Lee Pomeroy certainly do deliver a sound brimming with that confidence.
All three members of the band have been associated with stars and superstars for many years (too long a list for here) and Braide and Soan have known each other for many years.
The music is highly melodic but covers a wide range of styles and forms – on the positive side the music is superb and the songs excellent but on the downside the variety of forms tends to detract from hearing any unique identity. Opener ‘Lie Detector’ is one of my favourite tracks. Gentle swells of synths behind Braide’s high voice lead to a monster drum sound and a lovely guitar break. Full of whispery wonder, it works really well to introduce the band. That leads into ‘Put Down The Gun’; piano led with an eighties drum sound and vocals that definitely put it in the Tears For Fears camp.
The title track is a steepling piece, musing on the place of God in the universe, that has elements of Genesis in it but without the ridiculous widdling that you expect from the G-band. It is one of those numbers that sounds better the louder you play it and the band find themselves in a fine groove.
‘Wake Up’ is a delightful little song but with a dark edge – there are few songs I can remember that work themselves out in only 1:03 but it is a perfect vignette. A total contrast is ‘Season Of Light’, once again strong on melody and keyboard led, in earlier times it would be split into three of four titled segments going from a relatively simple vocal part and into a huge rock like segment and finally back to piano and child’s voice.
It is a fine album, flawed but the musicianship is clear and the songs are strong. They need to shake off some of the people they have played with and for and develop their own sound but there is definitely enough here to be worth buying.
