THE LEAP

I have very mixed feelings on this album. No, I definitely don't consider this music bad. It's just that there's something to irritate me on a purely subjective level. It mostly concerns the vocals that have a slightly artificial, technically treated tone. Victor Go from Ukraine kindly sent me not only this new album but also Going for the Sense (2018; one of the three albums releaded that year!) which I actually prefer, due to a larger portion of instrumentals.

His music is modern-sounding and, despite highly sophisticated, small-scale complex musical texture, quite poppy in the overall atmosphere, especially when it has vocals. Prefab Sprout with a proggiet twist. On the instrumentals the classic prog influences (that are emphasized on the artist bio and some reviews) are more audible, for example twisted rhythms and some nods to Keith Emerson on keyboards, but I don't much sense Symphonic Prog flavour. A little bit of Fusion spirit I do hear. There's no denying Victor Go is a gifted one-man- band and producer.

This album is almost 58 minutes long and it has 11 tracks. It would help a lot if they would at least flow more seamlessly. I get a feeling that all songs sound quite the same. There are no memorable melodies, nor do the lyrics have any emotional connection to me (which again doesn't mean they're objectively pointless). The worst thing however is the constant use of autotune or whatever device instead of normal acoustic recording of vocals. As an instrumental album I surely would enjoy it more. For all the professionalism in playing and producing I round my 2,5 stars upwards.