Lunatic Soul -
Under The Fragmented Sky


(CD 2018, 35:59, Kscope, Kscope612)

The tracks:
  1- He Av En(4:05)
  2- Trials(5:44)
  3- Sorrow(1:30)
  4- Under The Fragmented Sky(5:03)
  5- Shadows(4:31)
  6- Rinsing The Night(3:56)
  7- The Art Of Repairing(7:54)
  8- Untamed(3:24)


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Of course Lunatic Soul, the solo project of Riverside's Mariusz Duda, does not need to be introduced on this website. At this time it is already ten years ago that Duda launched his first solo album, simply called Lunatic Soul. I still remember how I held the album in my hands and thought: is it possible that one of the driving forces of Riverside is able to create a totally other music style and show that to the world? If so, this person needs to have a little bit of a lunatic soul! I listened a lot to his Lunatic Soul albums. Time after time he surprised me with his music, and not in a negative way. This gentleman has a creativity that many people can envy.

Only eight months passed since the album Fractured (see review) saw the light, here is Under The Fragmented Sky. All music for this album was written during the writing session of Fractured. In the beginning it was not intended to show this songs to the world. Duda decided otherwise, edited the songs and here is the result. That means that the music of Fractured and Under The Fragmented Sky has a lot of the same sphere.

That I may review this album, presumably the last Lunatic Soul album, is a real honor to me. Am I objective? Well, I dare not answer that, however I can be critical, as you can read in other reviews that I wrote.

This time I will review in another way than I usually do. While listening to the album a number of terms came to mind that I linked to the music. I really want to share these terms with you as a reader to see if this is a workable method.

Naturally feeling' is the first one. I do not know if this has to do with the Lunatic Soul style we're used to, or that the music just 'fits' in the image I have with Lunatic Soul, how it should sound, but with the creative outings of Duda.

Coherent' is the second one. What I noticed particularly is that in a lot of songs there are pieces that you will hear in another song also, without being annoying, boring or repetative for a moment. I had the thought that this album also could be one big epic of 35:59 minutes instead of eight shorter songs.

Drums' is the third term. In only one song are drums included, namely at the last song Untamed. Duda's friend Wawrzyniec Dramowicz (aka Vaaver) is the man behind the drum kit. Normally I experience an album without drums as an album with a little emptiness, but to be honest, I do not miss them for a second.

Singing' is the fourth and 'too short' the fifth, I do combine these two. On only two songs Duda sings lyrics. On a few other songs you can hear his voice in the form of whawhawha, lisplay or simply giving sound to it. I do not miss the lyrics at all, the music and the voice of Duda fills you enough. The shortness of the album is maybe the only point of criticism that I can tell you. In my opinion the length of this album could have lasted the full 80 minutes because of everything that is happening. After the disc ends you run to your player to touch the play button again, it is a bit addictive.

The last two terms I will also combine, namely 'good that this music is shown to the world' and 'you have to undergo this album'. It would have been particularly sad if this music would be lost by not publishing it, because then you would not have been able to take this pleasure and that is a shame because it is an enrichment for you as a person. Undergo, experience and feel the enrichment of this music.

Very secretly I hope that Mariusz decides not to end the Lunatic Soul series with this album. This is in any case a very beautiful album by a gifted artist.

****+ Michel Stolk (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen)

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