Ok. So, so far I have listened to side A and B of the album, I'm saving the second half, sides C and D, for when I have the actual physical album in my hands, as I enjoy more the experience of listening an album for the first time if I can read the lyrics and look at the artwork while listening. So far my first impressions are... quite good. Not a great masterpiece, but quite solid, no single bad track so far.
The album is a little weird actually, since it's clearly what you would expect from Waters: heavy on the lyrics over musically simple backgrounds. So in that sense it's 100% Waters, and people who don't like his previous solo work can rest assured that they are NOT going to like this album either. But it's weird because while being pure Waters, at the same time sounds a lot like Radiohead's latest record, A Moon Shaped Pool, so you can VERY clearly hear Nigel Godrich influence on it.
The title track particulary reminds me a lot of "Decks Dark" from that album, in a good way, since it's one of my favorite tracks so far. But it does sound a lot like Radiohead! I think, taking that into consideration, it should have been released as a collaboration between the two and not as a solo record, a "Waters+Godrich" release, that way people could know what to exactly expect and understand and judge the album under the proper light and context.
On the other songs overall you can hear lots of synths, which is nice, it's like a return to side B of The Wall. It sounds "modern" though, like retro vintage, not actual vintage: modern tracks with little classic 70S Floyd elements thrown in the mix. The songs seem to be edited in little groups of two or three. Broken Bones is in the style of those majestic ballads from The Final Cut, similar to Deja Vu, but with some guitar work at the end reminiscent of "Hello I Love You", which I quite like, those sustained guitar notes at the climax of the chorus. There's also a great string work on the title track, a very apocalyptic and dark sounding song which nicely segues into "Bird In a Gale", an even more apocalyptic song! It's basically what "Four Minutes" from KAOS should always have been: a lot of synths and electric piano, ticking clocks, feeling of impending doom, Roger singing some pessimistic stuff over a sound collage of radio transmissions and ending all with a big bang*.... fucking awesome!
If you like that stuff that is, If youIf you like that stuff that is, If you prefer more normal AOR music like that from On An Island or RTL, or maybe more complex prog music or you are still waiting for the second coming of the WYWH album, well, you sure better stay away from this, since this is not the kind of stuff you will enjoy.
On the other hand, fans of Roger solo stuff post-ATD, The Final Cut and A Moon Shaped Pool, are well advised to check this one too, chances are you are going to like it quite a bit. Very dark album. Or at least the first half. Don't know at all what awaits me in the second half! I'm saving that for the next week
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3__KOf6xZE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnMwOR0_qBU
*Not actually quite BIG since the album is heavily compressed, sadly, so more like a little bang :lol
![[-D-]](./images/smilies/eusa_clap.gif "Applause"){kind=small}
