Difficult, oh so difficult. What is? Trying to reference the music of TCP, aka the Temporal Chaos Project, on their sophomore effort Fantastic Dreamer. Opener Schizoid & Guntrip sounds like King Crimson with Porcupine Tree's Steve Wilson lending a hand, Devotee is clearly the Mark & Clark Band singing and playing piano (remember their seventies hit Worn Down Piano?), Ambiance For The Active Mind must have Dave Gilmour playing secretly along with Dream Theater while hiding in a closet, and this is just for starters. But why do you moan about difficulty to reference as it clearly doesn't cost you any effort to come up with all these names you ask? Well, because the trio Henry Tarnecky (vocals, keys), Blake Tobias (keys, bass) and Jack Wright (guitar, drums) have their very own style, while incorporating all these influences, and especially the vocals that give the songs their own character (although they keep reminding me of Mark or is it Clark? with a hint of Fish). Featuring lots of keyboards, all tracks have some tension and develop in sharp turns, the guitar chips in regularly with a haunting solo and this album gets better playing session after session. It all cumulates in the epic Vision which will bring TCP a huge step closer to the prog Champions League. ****+ André de Waal (edited by Robert James Pashman Where to buy? |
