REYA OF TITAN

"Reya of Titan" is the second album by Gekko Projekt and, like their debut album "Electric Forest", their style remains rooted in the late 1970's. This is accomplished so well that it come across as totally natural and in no way sounds forced or contrived. However, there is at least one noticeable step up from the debut and that is that the music has grown in complexity. While much of the music on "Electric Forest" seemed to be based on an interesting but repeated rhythm (bass line and drums) allowing for the showcasing of Peter Matuchniak's Hackett/Howe inspired lead guitar work and Vance Gloster's vintage keyboard sounds, "Reya of Titan" sees the band stretching out into more challenging time signatures and longer compositions with rhythm changes.

The band is comprised of the same four members, including Rick Meadows on bass and Alan Smith on drums as well as the aforementioned Peter and Vance, but this time they are joined by JoJo Razor providing the female vocals for the character Reya in this concept narrative. The album tells the story of Reya Jones who, in the year 2084, heads to Lunar City to pick up a ship to do asteroid mining and then subsequently barely escapes death after a meteor punctures a hole in her vessel. She is rescued out by Saturn's largest moon Titan, and then everyone becomes marooned on the giant satellite. Rescue does not come and everyone must rebuild the ship and turn it into a habitat for all to live in until help comes. After 24 years a ship arrives from Mars. It seems there has been a war between Earth and Mars which caused the great delay. With so much time having passed and everyone on Titan now comfortable in their new world, Reya says they should vote about returning to Earth or remaining on Titan. They vote to stay and the Martian ship leaves. Reya is pronounced Queen of Titan.

I very much enjoyed the music of "Electric Forest" and it's great to hear the band reaching further on their sophomore release. The sound is warmer than on the debut but at times I feel JoJo's vocals are not easy to hear clearly. Aside from that though, there is a lot of interesting music: some instrumentals and great instrumental sections in the songs. One that stands out for me is the in-your-face odd time signature of "Frienda". The music is simple regarding the mix (as in not heavily layered) but it's nothing you can easily dance to. Another touch I like was how Reya's favourite song "Sing for Me" the final track, can be heard as the radio signal shifts before completely cutting out in "Radio Earth Interlude". We can imagine Reya catching that final Earth signal and hearing her favourite song for a few moments before all contact is lost.

I do find the lyrics are a little cheesy at times but mostly I think it's all part of the late seventies sound. Taken in that context, I have no complaints. I quite enjoy both Gekko Projekt albums but perhaps I like this one a little more. It will be interesting to hear what they do on a third album, hoping that they will record one at some future time.