An Inch Equals 200 Miles is the debut album from multi-instrumentalist/songwriter/vocalist/composer Skylar Gray, a concept record about alien abuction, made up of 18 tracks that are divided up between charming little vocal pieces and spacey instrumentals. Gray seems influenced by The Beatles, 10CC, Radiohead, The Moody Blues, and Porcupine Tree, so you get a nice mix of spacey prog and pop throughout An Inch Equals 200 Miles.
Musically, much of the album is lush and pastoral, featuring lilting electric guitar chords and nice acoustic guitar, and layers of soothing keyboards (organ, synths, Mellotron, electric piano, acoustic piano) and Skylar's melodic vocals. Though many of the songs are quite short and basically segue into each other, some of the longer tracks, like "An Eye Controller", allow for more dramatic, and long lasting, passages. "Rings, Rays, Red Shifts" sounds like a head on collision between ELO and King Crimson, and "How We Accidently Killed the Hostages" features Canterbury styled piano melodies soaring amidst space rock arrangements.
My one gripe here is that so much of the album seems stuck in this melancholy vibe, that at times you just wish Gray would pick up the pace a bit. He quite obviously has the vocal and songwriting talent to create material that is a bit more upbeat than what he's delivered here, so perhaps on his next outing we can expect a little more pop and less seriousness. Regardless, this is still an entertaining effort from someone I hope we'll hear much more from in the near future.
Track Listing
1. Earth (departure)3.11
2.
The Escapist1.03
3.
Terraforming2.03
4.
What's With This Machine?2.35
5.
Say Something1.30
6.
Black Death2.10
7.
Earth (memory)1.26
8.
An Eye Controller4.07
9.
Rings, Rays, Red Shifts4.04
10.
Saturn Devours0.17
11.
Estranged3.48
12.
Wrists0.38
13.
Fingers1.26
14.
Gears Part I1.24
15.
Gears Part II1.33
16.
Earth's Humiliation and the Agony of3.03
17.
How We Accidently Killed the Hostages4.01
18.
Earth (return)1.39
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