IDENTITY

What a disappointment! The element of TUNE's debut album that most set this band apart from all other prog bands has now disappeared from their aural landscape: I speak, of course, of the accordion. Also, whereas Tune's debut album, Lucid Moments, had such a wonderful story, going into the life of a fairly normal man going through some mental illness, undergoing psychotherapy, I do not feel as drawn into the story of this album as well. Perhaps it's more due to my lamenting the absence of my beloved accordion, but I think not, it's more. While they have maintained a lot of their wonderfully spacious, emotional soundscapes, without the accordion, Tune has become just another Polish heavy prog rock band. The album opens wonderfully with the slow-building atmospheric Post Rock instrumental, "On" (4:23), but then all things fall apart with the entrance of some techno-electro drumming in the PETER SCHILLING-like second song whose followup's title tells you what I think of this bluesy album's value to the my music collection. Other high note: the album's finale, "Off"--though it reminds me of a rehashing of something that might have been rejected from their first album. These guys are so talented! This is just a disappointment. I hope they will reconsider the direction they've chosen. More accordion! More eery, upsetting storytelling!