![]() ![]() Hey Kid is a more laid back and piano led track with breathy, hushed vocals and a wistful tone and Will To Power is all electronic, swirling keyboards, funky guitar and dynamic bass that opens up into what would have been a shoe in for a single release, when people used to buy 7″ vinyl that is! Highlights include the fantastic, ballad-like, opener Look What You Do, a lush and gorgeous evocation of love with Chris Braide’s hauntingly elegant vocal front and centre, Clear Light, the first single, which is pure 80’s prog-pop excellence in the vein of Asia (no surprise with Geoff Downes involved!) and the aforementioned Darker Side Of Fame, a nostalgic feeling song where Marc Almond and Braide deliver a stunning vocal performance. These skills come from experience really and on this album they have the balance about right This means the three longer tracks get room to reach their full potential, making this is a rewarding aspect of the album it is stronger for it. A further pleasing aspect of this album is the clever application of knowing when a track warrants an extended running time or benefits from brevity. As always, the artwork for the album by Roger Dean is lush and vibrant and is eminently suited to the music the album contains, the power of the music definitely elevated by the magnificent and deeply impressive artwork. This album has a lot of variety to its tracks, every song is different yet each casts its own spell and it all provides an interesting spectrum of colours and sounds and is wonderfully produced and delivered with style and commitment. Dave’s got his own stamp and that’s something that we appreciate having on board.“ “ Having Dave Bainbridge with us has added another dimension to the DBA-sound and I’m very happy with that. When we send him stuff to play, he has incredible feeling and creates a more interesting bass part than we could have thought of ourselves. “ Andy Hodge is very much an integral part of this unit. “ It’s very useful having this core of musicians that are ready to enhance our music,” agrees Geoff Downes. They are joined by Dave Bainbridge who adds guitar to several tracks and Marc Almond, who provides a good vocal for Darker Side Of Fame, a tale of a faded rock star, possibly based on his own experiences? Also present is the stylish bass playing of Andy Hodge and Geoff had this to say about his fellow musicians With Geoff Downes adding his keyboard magic to a varied sound palette and Chris Braide providing vocals that are very expressive throughout, this material is possibly their strongest yet. It is a gloriously life affirming listen, with pretty much the same team that presented us ‘Halcyon Hymns’. ‘Celestial Songs’, due to be released in September, delivers a further eleven slices of perfectly concocted, aurally magical, progressive pop/rock brimming with melodies and inventiveness. Well, that is certainly not the case here as this fifth instalment of the Downes Braide Association is a triumph in every sense, continuing on from the utterly wonderful and captivating release that was ‘Halcyon Hymns’ in 2021. Some albums you wait for eagerly only to be ultimately disappointed and let down.
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