EPIC III

The title track raises our hopes. It does not have the immediate melodic appeal or transparent form of "Four Moments", but it does feature some considerably more complex music than we were used to hearing from Sebastian Hardie (the mid-to-late decade work of Yes seems to be an influence). The remaining shorter tracks are a mixed bag. His poppier influences come to the fore, as do his fairly recent forays into soundtrack work. The best is the fusion-flavoured instrumental "Mary's Theme". The worst is the waltzing "Harlequin and Columbine", particularly given the overly-declamatory vocal contribution from Safanya. The only other vocal track is the very poppy "Life In Our Hands", with it's distinctive synth riff. The instrumental tracks in general are pleasant listening, but rarely more stimulating than that - his harmonic ideas are fairly limited, his melodies are nice but generally fairly obvious - and generally there is a strong easy listening vibe. After the excellent title track, it's all somewhat of a letdown. One good thing about Millo working as a soloist, without Sebastian Hardie or Windchase in tow, is his freedom to hire some excellent session musicians - most notably the highly impressive rhythmic section of Mark Kennedy (Spectrum/Ayers Rock) and Jackie Orszaczky (Syrius).