This is Chicago-based, Dave Harrington's fourth album of self-produced compositions. The album opens atmospherically with organ and percussion before bursting into life on the second track, "Serentity Interrupted", with an angular, Anglagaard-like theme. Like the album, this powerful track blends dissonance and melody well, with interchanging themes and alternative time signatures. Guitar and organ are used in harmony and counterpoint to illustrate the themes. The following piece is a more mellow affair with dominant organ and a firm bass melody underpinned by restrained percussion. A more dissonant tone is adopted for "The lost moon of Neptune", although it is structurally similar to the second track. Djam Karet are brought to mind or some of Birdsongs of the Mesozoic's work.
"Twilight's Edge", at least initially, is a rather more languid reflective piece, bringing to mind Camel or Holland's Trion. The angular constant returns as the track develops however. Track 6 is the first departure from the basic structural idioms with its jaunty keyboard and guitar polyrhythms creating an inquisitive air. Gloomy organ chords break the rhythms midway and a Miriodor-like theme emerges, reminding me of a couple of tracks from Jonglerie Elastique. On track 7, those gloomy organ chords remain in place with a playful bass and percussion arrangement performing below the surface. A lighter and more intricate organ solo opens the penultimate track, "They smile when they speak to me" but the piece develops a more menacing theme as it grows.
The album is completed with "Release", the longest composition at 8 minutes. This encompasses several changes of mood and texture, capturing much of the essence and influences contained in the shorter pieces. Overall its a short album (at just 36 minutes) of good quality progressive rock and fusion instrumentals, perhaps lacking a little in variety, each with intriguingly esoteric titles. All Dave's albums under the guise of The Last Days of Lucidity are available at CDBaby.
Track Listing
1. The Captain is falling, my friend
2. Serenity Interrupted
3. No one sent to tend the engines
4. The lost moon of Neptune
5. Twilight's Edge
6. Passage through the eye of a camel
7. Hidden faces in quiet spaces
8. They smile when they speak to me
9. Release
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