INVENTIONS: Logica (PROGRESSIVE ROCK,Atmospheric Rock): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Periodically, a group or singer embarks on an ambitious "project" that it plans on several albums, a guiding thread, a fresco, a trilogy, tetralogy or more if affinities. Often these projects disappear into the wild, their creators having understood that the idea was not so good or having simply moved on to something else. In other cases, the artist persists in his concept to produce more and more laborious albums, with the risk of losing part of his audience on the way.

I must admit that I highly feared that Inventions, Christiaan Bruin's side-project (Sky Architect, Chris), would go astray in one of these two directions, as the idea followed by the artist (see previous reviews) seemed risky to me and the pace difficult to maintain. However, as the albums go by, it has to be said that the project is working well, with Christiaan Bruin managing to introduce a small dose of innovation with each new release, boosting the listener's interest.

Thus, even if the style remains easily identifiable, "Logica" differs from its predecessors by a greater complexity, drawing more on a prog side where "Meta" emphasized its post-rock atmosphere and "Curiosity" a pop tinged with new wave more accessible.

The first three tracks are an excellent start : behind the solar and cyclical 'Platonics' whose brevity avoids boredom comes the huge eponymous track, the main piece of the record. After a juxtaposition of small pieces united by the same contemplative and melancholic atmosphere, the title switches to progressive from the fifth minute where the themes flow in a fluid and natural way, the interventions on the sax by Theo Travis reminding those of a certain David Jackson in Van der Graaf Generator. 'Mind of God' magnificently closes the trilogy, a repetition of intriguing guitar solos and sung passages, reminiscent in some ways of Steve Hackett's work or the melodic King Crimson.

Unfortunately, the album marks a pause with the dispensable and repetitive "Beholder's Eye" and doesn't recapture the magic on the last three tracks even if they still deliver a few beautiful passages. In addition, the willingness to use a narrative voice distorted by microphone effects almost systematically (the last four titles use this process, the narrative also appearing during the second title and several times on the last one - a trick already used in "Meta") and to regularly use cyclical themes modulated on all tones eventually give a somewhat irritating impression of déjà vu.

Nevertheless the undeniable quality of writing and some unexpected ideas allow us to have a very good time. And above all, the album is magnified by Théo Travis' tasty and masterful interventions on sax and flute, enriching a "Logica" darker and more ambitious than his predecessors. - Official website

INVENTIONS

LOGICA

FREIA

PROGRESSIVE ROCK