Lonely Robot is the brainchild of John Mitchell, ex Arena, The Urbane, and Francis Dunnery’s replacement in It Bites. There are a lot more, but too many to mention here. John is a bit of a genius and a workaholic it seems. As well as being a recording artist in his own right he has produced a myriad of artists. He even did a three song EP for me when I was involved in the Tygers Of Pan Tang.
This is the fourth album from this project. The first three were a concept commonly referred to as The Astronaut Trilogy, so this one is different and is a much more personal album lyrically. The title track gets things underway and is a short vocal piece, before taking us into the album proper with Into The Lo-Fi – a great Prog/pop masterpiece. John has this quality to his voice that fits with the Prog stylings of this record perfectly. Spiders is up next and is another great song with a brilliant melody and some great playing. Crystalline is a beautiful song with great musicality, it would have made a great single. Life Is A Sine Wave is another great song that is full of great moments and playing. This song could be a standard bearer for what is modern Prog music. Excellent tune! Armour Of My Heart seems to be a very personal song which deals with the topic of how to deal with lost love and putting the barriers up. Suburbia is another piece of modern Prog with great melodies and great playing – without being over the top. Keeping People As Pets is my personal favourite on the album – a really great tune.
The production is fantastic, very crisp and clear, and all of the instruments are separated so nothing is lost in the mix. A bit more laid back than the previous three, but still a great record.
8.5/10 from The Grooveman.
