Chris Herin, guitarist, and song writer is, of course known, at least by the in-crowd, as member of the American prog rock band Tiles, the notorious band that released several excellent albums on Inside Out Music. In my humble opinion Fly Paper, released in 2008, is one of their best albums by far and now mister Herin releases a solo album called Hiding In Plain Sight, which is a dark, sombre conceptual album about his personal experiences of his father's struggle with Alzheimer's disease. Herin's debut solo album features twelve songs containing a wide blend of progressive rock, mixed with blues rock, jazzy undertones, alternative rock sections and some orchestral elements as well. There is also an extraordinary list of supporting artists that give Herin a musical hand, like: Alex Lifeson (Rush), Peter Frampton (Humble Pie), Martin Barre (ex-Jethro Tull), Michael Sadler (Saga) and Colin Edwin (ex-Porcupine Tree) and the album is co-produced by no one less than Terry Brown (Rush, Max Webster, VOIVOD), so musical quality guaranteed? Hiding In Plain Sight opens with Warning Signs, a great track with 100% musical roots in the eighties, featuring heavy guitar riffs and hooks and the very recognisable voice of Michael Sadler; the song is highlighted by the soaring guitar solo, making this a brilliant song to start with indeed. Follow up The Darkest Hour, being the first single release, features Jethro Tull's Martin Barre on flute/ guitar and Doane Perry (ex-Jethro Tull) on drums, and this song is a bit more AOR-like with musical inspiration clearly somewhere in the early seventies and it stands out due to the almost catchy chorus. Peter Frampton delivers the guitar solo in The Heart Of You, a song that musically refers to the nineties, while Secret Adversary sounds like a clean prog rock crossover song with vocal harmonies, remarkably diverse tempos, and complex arrangements indeed. Second Ending, featuring Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson, is a mini prog epic, very melodic and one of the highlights of the album. The second part of Hiding In Plain Sight is lyrical-wise filled with grief and sadness, some songs leave you even heartbroken as especially some of the last tracks like Slow To Crumble and Wilderness Years obviously deal with the personal impact of Herin's dealing with grief. However musically these songs are rather upbeat rock songs with great contributions from Cody Bowles and Kevin Comeau (Crown Lands), as well as from Jimmy Keegan (ex-Spock's Beard and Pattern-Seeking Animals) and Kevin Chown (Tarja). Conclusion: Hiding In Plain Sight is a beautiful album, with heartfelt and emotional lyrics, amazing music, so lots of things to enjoy and think about. Listen to it with your headphones and you will even be more moved. Listening tip: The Darkest Hour. **** Martien Koolen (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
