Voyager Project: We're Not Alone

There's no doubt that some albums take a length of time to mature. If I had come to write this review for the second album We're Not Alone from UK Progsters Voyager Project say even last week, then I may have been more scathing. However another five or six spins and my thoughts have softened somewhat. Yes, this four-piece (minus a full time drummer) still could do with honing the production values in their music. Also in truth the vocals from Martin Cliffe (he also plays guitars, some keyboards and drums), while engaging, are ever so slightly rough and ready. On first and second, third and fourth listen, these were areas that it was difficult not to focus on. However with subsequent time, the issues become eroded by intelligent, personal and sometimes religious based lyrics, alongside the high standard of musicianship which creates the gentle, swaying, traditional, yet modern Prog on show.

It is over a decade since Voyager Project formed, although with the 2010 release of their debut album Where Angels Fear To Tread, things seem to be moving on at a greater pace, with VP becoming a genuinely functioning band, rather than a sometime live act. The overall vibe on this second album is one of melancholia and claustrophobia, with most of the music shuffling along at a sedate pace. However give yourself over to the mood and things slowly begin to reveal themselves. Influences come and go, with everything from aRK (the John Jowitt version), early, although less glossy Moody Blues and even Tull shimmying past on the swaying themes. The keyboards are restrained and mellow and the guitar is used almost exclusively to pick out lines of melody, barely ever breaking into a riff at all. Add to that the straining vocals of Cliffe and things do become very intimate indeed. The mould is broken from time to time with "Head On The Tracks" offering up at times a heavier outlook, although it is here that the programmed drums and production can cause problems. The strongest songs show up in the guise of the uncomfortably personal sounding "Half The Sun", with the song being about break-up, divorce and the damage it does to a family. The words are powerful, so powerful in fact that if this song hasn't been born from personal experience, then I take my hat of bassist Ed Cooke, who penned the lyrics. Musically the gentle pace and uncluttered feel offer up parts of early Galahad, Moody Blues and even a sparser RPWL.

The marvellously titled "Sea Of Tranquility" (well we would say that wouldn't we?!) is a short almost Tangerine Dream meets Jarre movement, whereas "All The Stars" sounds like a stripped back, yet rocked up early Marillion - although without the captivating vocals. It's not that Cliffe's voice is awful, however his lack of range and the manner in which he struggles to hold a note convincingly certainly doesn't enhance its surroundings.

Considering that We're Not Alone is a self financed, self recorded disc, there is much to celebrate here, although in the cold light of day, there is still some work to be done for Voyager Project to really become competitors in the ever cluttering Prog field. Still, that doesn't stop this album being worthy of the time and attention it requires to reveal its inner beauty.

Track Listing
1. We're Not Alone
2. Second-best Friend
3. Sea Of Tranquility
4. Half The Sun
5. Head On The Tracks
6. Sounds And Silences
7. All The Stars
8. The Elder Son

Added: March 30th 2012
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Voyager Project Official Web Site
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Language: english

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