ON DETOUR TO SHORTCUT

The RIO duo cHoclat FRoG (their capitalisation) comprising Rainer Ludwig (vocals, drums, percussion, keyboards, guitar, synthesizer, Fx, programming) and his son-in- law Tim Ludwig (bass, guitar, programming, backing vocals, additional voices) are back with their second album, following on from 2021's 'Snapshot'. That release saw them bring in guests to fill out their sound and provide some different influences, but this time around it is just the two of them, and to my ears they have produced something which is more complex and richer than the debut.

While this is still solidly RIO with a refusal to conform to any set norms or styles, there is no doubt they felt inspired to bring the guitars more to the fore than previously. This means that some of the music moves into more of a prog metal style and listening to the opening of "This Is My Wife" one realises this has much more in common with Zappa than one might expect before moving more into a metal and avant mix than even he might imagine before dropping into a wonderfully emotional fretless bass and percussion duet. It is the sheer breadth of styles they embody which makes this such a fascinating release, from a duo who are more than happy to be fully instrumental when the mood takes them, bringing in vocals when they feel the time is right. It is difficult to comprehend it is just the two of them creating this soundscape as it feels much more like a full band, with people bouncing ideas off each other as opposed to spending countless hours in a studio creating this line by line, thread by thread.

They seamlessly switch between prog which is more mainstream and the avant garde, often within the same song, making for very interesting listening indeed as one never knows which path the music is going to take, only that one cannot expect a musical pattern to be followed bar to bar, and even when one gets lulled into a false sense of security such as with the bass on "Pollock" one is sure it is soon to change into something quite different. Overall this is a fascinating album which progheads will do well to discover.