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Beekstraat 1 - B-2640 Mortsel - Belgium |
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Beekstraat 1 - B-2640 Mortsel - Belgium |
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ACUITY: Skyward |
| Cover |
Release |
Style |
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2004 | symphonic prog |
| Label | ||
| Retrograde Recordings | ||
| Website | ||
| Contact | ||
| nimble-fred@projectacuity.com | ||
| Playing Time | Cat. N° | |
| 67:51 | RR-0401 | |
| Review by | Rating | |
| Christoph | 6,5/10 | |
| nederlands | Review | |
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American Acuity is one of those one man studio projects that are popping up like mushrooms these days. Bradley Styes is the multi-instrumentalist here. He prefers spacey keyboards and energetic guitar riffs. But what disturbs me, is that this undoubtedly gifted musician is playing really everything. So you’d have to be a Leonardo da Vinci to end it all well. Styes isn’t a renaissance man though. And like my colleague Luc recently said in his Willowglass review, it’s easier for a musician who chooses one main instrument, to look into its soul. The drums are the flaw here, sounding monotonous and under-produced. Yet there are some good ideas here, but constructing them into a captivating whole is something else. ‘Vector’ is driven by a boring guitar riff. The first epic ‘Transcendence’ could have been more interesting when abbreviated to half of it. The same counts for the over twenty minutes central piece ‘Milwaukee’. The instrumental ‘Cul-de-sacs of Venus’ has some lovely mellotron, and Discipline front man Matthew Parmenter contributes some nice violin playing. ‘Voyager’ starts with some interesting instrumental parts, before launching in yet another over-long piece. ‘Skyward’ is a record made with love and a deeply felt affinity with the genre. But to make true these best intentions, Styes would be better off if he’d shorten things in a tighter format. It’s not coincidental that the best song here is the catchy ‘State of the Art Love Song’, clocking at barely four minutes. And hiring a really good drummer would be helpful as well. And why not hire a whole bunch of interesting guest musicians, so Styes can focus more on the production side of things? Now we end up with a record that is half interesting, half redundant. |
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Musicians |
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Bradley Styes: all music & lyrics
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| Tracklist | ||
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1. Vector (5:28)
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| Discography | ||
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Skyward (2004) |
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Last updated:
20 augustus 2005 . |
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