Paradox One - "This Fragile Peace"
What’s in a name? Some bands really should think hard and long before pronouncing their new moniker as it will stay with them for a long time. An interesting band name can be like a great album cover and, in this world of a million choices, draw the eye of the listener to that particular release.
On a popular social media site the name Paradox One kept catching my attention, it did help that the album cover was quite noticeable as well but it was the name that really caught my eye. Digging deeper……..
Paradox One began life in 2000 as the solo project of Scottish musician Phil Jackson. He released four albums of cosmic progressive rock that met with encouraging reviews. Through his work as a reviewer Phil became friends with Tim Jones and Terri~B of Stone Premonitions.
Through this friendship he got to know guitarist John Simms of Clear Blue Sky and Census of Hallucinations and, over the years, has worked with many other musicians. This has culminated with him collaborating with these aforementioned artists on the new Paradox One album, ‘This Fragile Peace’.
Phil provides vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar, percussion and FX, John Simms – vocals, electric guitars, bass guitars, drum prograaming on track 4 and FX, Maxine Marten adds vocals, Paddi – drums and percussion and Tim Jones – bass guitar.
Thematically the music is intended to convey the dislocation people often feel as they try to understand, and come to terms with, earthly evils that threaten our humanity.
Time to dig deep and explore this intriguing release…..
The auspicious start to Wheat in the Fields soon degenerates into a disappointing and confusing mishmash of disparate ideas that all seem to be fighting for attention. The musicianship is of a high quality but it all feels just a tad disjointed. This seems to lift some with the delicate and ambient Ethereal Soldier Pt1 with its spaced out feel and ghostly vocals. It is quite trippy in delivery but is tied down by the luscious guitar work. Things are improving for definite with this gentle offering.
Blues heavy and dripping with feel and emotion, Darkest Night sends you on a smouldering, laid back journey through a low down and dirty world. The album is really starting to get into its stride here and John’s guitar playing is sublime. You really could be in a dark and dangerous jazz club listening to this track, where’s my bourbon bartender??!! The first video and single from the album is the spacey Waiting at Airports which almost has a feel of 80’s electro-pop to it. Well if it had been combined with his psychedelic, hippy music and free love that is. Maxine’s vocals are quite laid back and composed and the keyboards and guitar have combined free-form jam which only enhances the feel that illegal substances may be required from the outset.
We return to delicate and heavenly for Ethereal Soldier Pt2, just over one minute of a sweetly played acoustic guitar, quite relaxing before the extended prog-on of All the Way. Nine minutes of funky, edgy and spacey progressive rock that gets under your skin with its jazz influenced keyboard wanderings and earthy guitar. Like a midnight wander through an unknown city, it leads you up darkened alleyways in your mind before safely arriving at the other side. Occasionally it does seem to get lost up one of these said passages and hang around too long before getting back on track but, overall, it is a cool jam/smorgasbord of progressive, psychedelic and spaced out rock.
Ethereal Soldier Pt3 is one of the highlights of the album. It takes you on a cushioned ride through the heavens where everything is calm and serene. The elegantly played guitar of John Simms is paramount to this alluring track and you are left in state of becalmed grace. Title track This Fragile Peace has a real Americana feel to the excellent guitar work and the underlying spoken vocal leaves me imagining I’m slap bang in the middle of a Tarantino vision of midtown Americana. Quite an ambling piece of music that seems to be going nowhere in particular but in a very satisfying manner.
The Unknown Unknowns is the most strident and straight-forward track on the album where any psychedelic leanings seem to have been kept to the utmost minimum. I sense a slight feel of Public Service Broadcasting to this instrumental track that throws in occasional vocal broadcasts. Again there is some superb guitar work on show through this industrial edged song and its upbeat rhythm and mantra are quite addictive. A nice way to sign off the album.
Maybe a bit rough around the edges and occasionally a tad too sure of itself there is, however, a deep satisfaction to be had listening to the psychedelic and space rock tinged music that runs through ‘This Fragile Peace’. I for one would definitely be interested to hear what might come next from Paradox One, a worthy effort indeed.
Martin Hutchinson (Progradar) - (www.progradar.org)