Riverside: Eye Of The Soundscape

Just over a year ago I was standing outside in the Scottish wind and rain (two things the country does well) waiting for my eldest daughter to emerge from a nearly four hour interview process for a high street store (thanks Apple…). By the time she appeared my spirits were so low that I'd decided to give up on the evening's activities, a triple bill of Lion Shepherd, The Sixxis and Riverside feeling too far away to trudge through more diabolical weather for while already soaked to the skin and sick of leaning sideways just to stand up. Undeterred, my daughter implored me not to give in, we'd probably missed both support acts by now and by my reckoning Riverside were sure to be limbering up for their own stint on stage. As only a father can, I folded and we battled through the dark streets to the ABC 2 to discover Riverside were just ending their opening number. Suddenly my fatigue lifted, my soaked clothes were no longer heavy and my spirit began to soar. I'd seen Riverside more than once before but on the back of the stunning Love, Fear And The Time Machine album, it genuinely felt like the band had arrived at where their long, eclectic journey through prog had always been taking them and that maybe, just maybe, this would be the last time we'd witness the Polish prog masters in such a small venue. Little did anyone that night suspect it would be the final time we'd see Riverside as they were, the tragic news of guitarist Piotr Grudzinski's death at the age of just 40 a blow that was and still is, difficult to comprehend.

Even taking into account that singer and bass player Mariusz Duda is the band's chief songwriter, many thought this tragic event might just be the end of a band who over 16 years had built up a hugely loyal and loving fanbase. However with the announcement that the trio, completed by drummer Piotr Kozieradzki and keyboard player Michał Łapaj would continue without a formal replacement on guitar (instead inviting guests to record and tour with them), Riverside are set to live on. Although a 5.1 version of LF&TTM has appeared recently, Eye Of The Soundscape is the first move from the band to continue their legacy and yet it's also a nod to their past, a mixture of remixed old or bonus songs and new musical pieces brought together to form an instrumental ambient album stretching to over 100 minutes and realise a long held ambition from Riverside of working in this style. It's quite an undertaking and fittingly for a band who've touched many bases since their Pink Floyd inspired beginnings, it continues to push the boundaries in defining what Riverside can be. In the past they've toyed with ambient structures and themes within songs, but then they've also played with electronica-prog. However for the full album to, while featuring guitar prominently and reliant on some shimmering percussion, meld those two styles across its entirety, is still quite a departure.

Some of the pieces will seem familiar to fans of the band, old snippets, themes and in places full passages and songs brought together to segue into one another, along with Duda's new compositions, to form an album that feels much more cohesive than a collection of tracks gathered together across a decade have any right to. Imagine a mix of Kraftwerk, early a Jean Michel Jarre, abstract Floyd and, of course, Riverside and you'll pretty much have a grasp on what you can expect. Yes, it's different, but there's still more than enough Riverside here to leave no doubt who you're actually listening to.

I'll be forever grateful that my daughter insisted on dragging me through the puddles of Glasgow to spend her first and what I didn't realise at the time would be our final night with Riverside as we knew them. They were stunning, majestic and inspiring. Eye Of The Soundscape is the beginning of a new voyage, the start of a new chapter and while I doubt it really signals where we can expect the band to focus their future musical explorations, it is still a thing of real, captivating beauty.

Track Listing
CD1
1. Where The River Flows
2. Shine
3. Rapid Eye Movement (2016 mix)
4. Night Session - Part One
5. Night Session - Part Two

CD2
1. Sleepwalkers
2. Rainbow Trip (2016 mix)
3. Heavenland
4. Return
5. Aether
6. Machines
7 .Promise
8. Eye Of The Soundscape

Added: November 16th 2016
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Riverside online
Hits: 2695
Language: english

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