THE UNLIKELY EVENT

This album popped up randomly on my YouTube feed like some enigmatic suggestion that I didn't know I needed. Truth be told I am not as big a listener of prog as I may have been in previous years but the somber and heartfelt delivery of The Unlikely Event actually gave me some of what I would normally crave of the genre.

This album flirts with a lot of the world influence that fans of Oldfield would get a kick out, but it's spliced together with Anathemaesque emotionfests and glitchy electronic-laden production that would feel at home on Trent Reznor's more subdued works. There's even the odd bit of metal thrown in here and there.

It's truly a dynamic listen sold by the fragile and expressive voice of Stuart Stawman, especially present on 'Angels and Acrobats'. The track name combined with the exposed vocal feels like a pleading with the gods to let SJS into the eternal afterlife. There is some urgency on the record that feels tantamount to some of the final work Bowie laid down on Blackstar. That's a big comment in my books.

This small band could have gone unnoticed for me had I not taken a chance with what the algorithm threw me up. Can't recommend this one enough.