MOTHER SUN

Well, the previous reviewer certainly has an interesting perspective on this little gem but it would be impossible to put his comments into perspective without knowing what he enjoys or what he thinks is worthwhile. Suffice to say that I differ with him on several key points. First the songwriting on this release, while not the best songcraft you'll ever hear, is well thought-out and frequently even catchy. While the music does owe some to 80s King Crimson and possibly even Yes, the suggestion that this is poor songwriting is just way off the mark. As far as being "prog" well maybe that's the problem. No this doesn't sound like the sort of thing that prog fans typically are drawn to at least from a sonic viewpoint. No mellotrons, Hammonds, etc. No standard guitar sounds even. And yes the drums are electronic (gasp!). But the conceptual ideas are progressive. And they were striving for a kind of a 'new' sound that wasn't built on the old sonics but derives from the laptop culture that was emerging at the time. Some of the treated vocals foreshadowed things that were still years from emerging in mainstream pop music. And as for the songwriting, I think any songwriter worth his efforts would have been proud to have written "DrawDown", "Burning Bridges" or "Life Goes On". There are hints at Fripp & Co. but also of Anthony Phillips, Sting, David Byrne and Jon Anderson. Is this a "prog" album in the classic sense of the word? No. But it is an interesting and frequently uplifting album of well-crafted songs that don't push the flap of the envelope open by any means but they do tug at the corners! Now there is one point that I find myself in agreement with the previous reviewer about and that is that the sound of this disc is somewhat thin and lacking in bass frequencies. Having seen them perform these songs live twice I can tell you that this was probably intentional as the live sound also concentrated on the upper frequencies almost to the exclusion of the bottom end. And I think this was a mistake that gives the music a thin and brittle quality rather than the fragility that I suppose they were going for. Having said all of that I do recommend the disc for anyone interested in the intersection of prog rock, electronica, world music rhythms and modern songwriting. For fans of more traditional 'prog' music I would refer you to their 70s album "Nowandthen".