SOUNDTRACKS

A trap album.. The last Tim Morse! At the beginning yes it's them finally their grandsons. THE BEATLES you understood, and then the machine starts up.. melodic, ethereal, finally not too much, and then electro but just in snowy layers, and then variations.. progressive yes the word is out... and then these jazzy atmospheres... but from afar with this piano that smells good. In short some would say Art Rock.. I say it's a beautiful progressive album. 1. Blueberry Way for the Beatlesian sound 2. Remembrance for the interlude coming from limbo, challenging 3. Cityscape goes on VANGELIS, CARPENTER, threatening, dark synth, towards a submerged city 4. Broken Compass for the bucolic, contemplative ballad, pop rock from the time when one could travel without fear and without effort 5. By The River interlude with the trumpet coming to crash on your ears, delicate sweetness 6. Balance between the acoustic guitar, the banjo and the accordion, for the southern melody with this final slide spleen guitar that warms the hairs 7. Eponymous soundtracks, majestic, a solemn zest of VANGELIS, YES, voice-overs, a vocal in the distance, a funeral march worthy of a BOWIE; the first sung title

8. Empty Vessels with vibraphonic or xylophonic bells, a burst of cat with fleeting flute and a synthetic spatial outro that makes you jump 9. As Yet Untitled for the riff à la BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST, in symphonic redundancy, the illuminated vocal and a beautiful final keyboard layer 10. Solar Flare for its jazzy soft, twirling approach 11. Deidra for its delicate piano and its crystalline guitar arpeggio, a timeless variation 12. Mind Games oriental intro before leaving on a sung piece from the 80s, with lightness and shamelessness, almost soul-funky with this dancing groove à la EARTH, WIND & FIRE; a moment with another keyboard from the 3rd period of GENESIS 13. Lullaby for the marshmallow title with the little train that passes, your monolithic tone that unfolds like an endless rail 14. Musical vortex with the ambient moment that lets go into another world riding bubbles, passing from one to the other before they burst.

Here we have the fifth album from Tim Morse, and the fourth which I have reviewed (I missed out on the last release, 2022's 'Awaken' which was released under the band name Parallels). I first came across Tim in 2006 after the release of the debut, 'Transformation', but his solo albums until now have always included other musicians, yet here he has decided to embrace his full talents as a multi-instrumentalist and done everything himself, including vocals. Morse says, "There were no rules about the music itself, so Soundtracks is a diverse, eclectic mix of styles and genres. On this album you'll find a Beatles homage ('Blueberry Way'), instrumental electronic music ('Cityscape'), a ballad ('Lullaby'), and so much more. It was a blast to roll out of bed and think, 'I feel like recording bass this morning?' and not depend on anyone else to complete the project. It brought out a fun aspect of experimentation, especially with instruments I'd never played in the past."

The result is an album which is pleasant to listen to, firmly staying in the middle of the road, but its quality should not necessarily be negated due to that. There is the feeling that this will be used more as background music than actually listened to, but there are certainly some enjoyable moments within this and there is a lightness and Summery feel which is refreshing. One can certainly imagine some of the music being taken and used within films, and the cover photo certainly fits very well with what is taking place inside, as if Morse felt something needed more keyboards, or guitars, or even banjo then he delivered. There is not a lot of percussion, which leaves room for space, and it certainly works in this setting. It is not as progressive as some of his material, but there are times when he reminds us, he has written a highly acclaimed book on Yes. A nice way to wind down from some of the more intense music I listen to.