Sonic Sight: Anthropology

Sonic Sight have been formed round Norwegian musician Finn Arild, a songwriter who has already released a couple of interesting progressive rock albums under his own name. This new venture finds Arild teaming up with a long term friend by the name of Reidar and Anthropology is the duo's debut. Between them the pair split all the instruments and vocals across a conceptually based piece that looks at the current refugee crises in Europe, and turns it on its head – A futuristic, war torn and economically broken USA causing refugees to spout across the world. India being the location of the album's main protagonist – From there things take a left turn in terms of story as an initially believable tale asks you to suspend you disbelief as a series of less expected events take place. That however doesn't stop this being an involving and engaging story.

Musically things are equally strong footed, if somewhat less 'out there'. A 70s progressive base, where Arild's Peter Gabriel like vocals add to the music's already strong Genesis flavours, works alongside a sprinkling of Yes and slice of neo-prog. To be fair, Sonic Sight are hardly alone in using that as their starting point and yet there's no denying the deftness of touch and eye for the dramatic that's created throughout. It's hard, if not impossible, to call anything here even a little out of the ordinary but from start to finish the atmosphere built and the level of musical ability on display allows you to become thoroughly ensconced in the story at hand. "Fall" is a prime example, keen keyboard melodies working both with and against the mood of the song, building tension and with some latter day Genesis moods also thrown in, revealing a surprising hybrid of stand offishness and accessibility.

Bringing a wider range of sounds and approaches to the same framework comes "Escape", a decidedly Gabriel era Genesis vocal lilt only created after some clever technical interplay between keys and guitar, while "Party", which admittedly doesn't sound like the most joyous occasion, does add a somewhat straighter edge and, through some irresistible key-work, a more neo thrust. Arild's vocals here and right across the album, while a little derivative in places (in truth the same can be said for the musical attack as well) are absolutely top notch. The end result being an album that ultimately manages to become greater than the sum of its parts and which, through both its intricate concept and the sounds you encounter, stands up well to repeat listens.

Track Listing
1. Prologue
2. Party
3. Fall
4. War
5. Escape
6. Refugee
7. Assassin
8. Method
9. Doldrums
10. Endgame
11. Epilogue

Added: October 29th 2017
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Sonic Sight online
Hits: 3146
Language: english

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