Release Date: 14th
March 2015
Label: Digital
Release (CD available from website)
Exovex
is a new progressive band formed by singer, songwriter and
multi-instrumentalist, Dale Simmons. The debut album, Radio Silence, has recently landed on The Ancient Ones’ desk for
review, and Dale’s credentials are very interesting. As a singer, songwriter,
guitarist and front man for several bands since the early 90’s, he has
traversed a wide spectrum of musical areas from prog/art rock through to jazz
and funk.
The album, Radio
Silence, has taken around 2.5 years to complete and release and as with
many solo projects, there are a few guests to help the project along. The band
assembled for Radio Silence includes,
Dale (vocals, guitars, bass), Richard Barbieri (keyboards, synths), Josh Freese
(drums), Keith Carlock (drums) and Gavin Harrison (drums). The three drummers
are very experienced musicians, Josh with NIN, A Perfect Circle and Devo, Keith
with Stings’ band, John Meyer and Steely Dan and Gavin with Porcupine Tree and
King Crimson. The other guest, Richard on keyboards also plays with Porcupine
Tree.
There is a concept running through the album and it
focuses on the downward spiral and final demise of a man due to the
physiological and physical effects of a long-term, self-imposed isolation.
Radio
Silence is a 6 track album with a playing time of around 44
minutes, with the longest track, “Seekers’ Prayer” running on for 9:35 minutes and
track 2, “Metamorph” is the shortest with a track time of 5:06 minutes.
As I have often pointed out, the opening track to an
album has a key role to play, in that it has to set the scene for the rest of
the album. How does the opening track, “Stolen Wings” (9:18) fill that role?
The start of this track has some very subtle atmospheric setting sounds which
slowly evolve into an excellent guitar passage. The rest of the band fills in
neatly behind this as the vocals put in an appearance. The music paints an
amazing aural soundscape and there are hints of old and new influences. The
older influence would seem to be Pink Floyd/Dave Gilmour and the newer
influence, that of Porcupine Tree (Richard and Gavin possibly?). “Stolen Wings”
is not much under 10 minutes in length, but seems over far too quickly and has
certainly grabbed the listener’s full attention. The track exits in a similar
fashion to the start with those atmospheric sounds.
“Metamorph” (5:06) has an excellent acoustic guitar into
electric guitar start, with the vocals appearing early in the proceedings. The
lyrics are very clear and interesting, but the overall highlight of this track
is the sublime guitar breaks.
A sound of morse code signals introduces “Seekers’
Prayer” (9:35), and another section of soundscape painting with bits of garbled
radio voices in the background. Around the 2 minute mark, we are treated to
some excellent guitar (a la Dave Gilmour) over a building background. The
vocals appear as we move past the 3 minute point and fit the scenario
perfectly. There are a few sections which up the volume and the power of the
voice to continue the storyline, but like a security blanket, that guitar sound
returns reassuringly.
“The Last Orbit” (5:51) has a piano/synth introduction
that heralds in the acoustic guitar, as yet again a small smile of satisfaction
crosses the listeners’ face. The vocals are treated to have a distorted/echo
tone to them before reverting to “normal.” “Dead Reckoning” (5:21) has a very
percussive start with more of the acoustic/electric guitar phrases. Double
tracking the voices make this track different to those that have gone before,
but surprisingly, I found that this track seemed to miss out on the “grab
factor.” I’m not sure exactly why, but I found this the weakest track on the
album.
Final track, “Daylight (Silent Key)” (8:30) restores the
album to its winning ways. Superb guitar, excellent vocals and a terrifically
atmospheric sound makes the disappointment of the previous track fade quickly.
After a long midsection with more stunning guitar, the sound drops away around
6:15 minutes, leading into one of those excellent atmospheric sections which
evolves slowly into an orchestral soundscape to take the album to its
conclusion.
Overall, Radio
Silence, is a stunning debut album by Exovex which is certainly worth
adding to your collection. Check it out, hand over the money and on subsequent,
and frequent, listens, allow yourself to contemplate where Dale might go with
album No. 2.
Thought I would throw in a little explanation of the band
title just before I go. The guest musicians were allowed to “do what they
thought would best serve the song” and Dale comments that this “unknown
creative variable” made Radio Silence
what it is. A quick delve into mathematics for a moment, to explain that a
“known function” in math can be written as f(x) and pronounced f of x, but if
it is x(x) or x of x (Exovex) then the outcome is unknown. Here endeth the math
lesson.
4.5/5
Stars
Key
Tracks: Stolen Wings, Metamorph, Daylight (Silent Key)
Tracks:
Stolen Wings
Metamorph
Seekers’ Prayer
The Last Orbit
Dead Reckoning
Daylight (Silent Key
Stolen Wings
Metamorph
Seekers’ Prayer
The Last Orbit
Dead Reckoning
Daylight (Silent Key
June 8, 2015
Review
Provided By Prog Rock Music Talk
No comments:
Post a Comment