I come back to the new project 'MOON HALO' whose first album 'Chroma' was already released in early January 2020 because it brings together artists that I particularly like with the singer 'Mark Atkinson' from 'Riversea' and who takes part in different projects like 'Lee Abraham' or 'Drifing Sun', the keyboardist ‘Iain Jennings’ of 'Mostly Autumn', the bassist 'David Clements' also from 'Riversea' and drummer 'Alex Cromarty' who is participating in the 'Mantra Vega' project created by 'Heather Findlay' and also that of 'Dave Kezner'. With this beautiful skewer, we say that we are going to bathe in a calm and serene progressive rock but, despite some titles in the trend of the formations mentioned above, it is not quite the qualifier that came to me in mind listening to 'Chroma' !
With the first two titles 'The Web' and 'Seize the Day', we are not strictly speaking in the moods of 'Mostly Autumn' or 'Riversea' but rather in a return to rock with sounds electronics of the 80s and this is not unpleasant at all because we get caught up in the game with simple but very effective melodic lines and a chorus for 'The Web' which remains anchored in our head and another heady melody for 'Sixteen the Day '. In the same style, we can mention the catchy 'Parachute', 'What's Your Name' with an eighties pop atmosphere, the funky 'Let Me Out', 'Awoken' bringing us back to the international pop of the 80s or even 'Rise Up' with its disco rhythm. In contrast, we find compositions more in tune with the pedigree of the artists of 'MOON HALO', starting with the short atmospheric instrumental 'Chroma', the vintage ballad 'The Veil' with its long final solo which certainly cannot leave indifferent those who knew the 80s, then, 'Somebody Save Us' is also a beautiful ballad much more in the style of 'Riversea' with a 'Gilmourien' guitar solo then 'Seventh Heaven' is, this time, close to melancholy of 'Mostly Autumn' and 'Across the Great Divide' is more progressive in a style close to 'Blackfield' and finally, it is in the serenity of 'Don't Let It End Like This' that the album ends with some (too few) vocalizations by Olivia Sparnenn'.
In summary, it is certain, this new project 'MOON HALO' is intended for an audience open to different styles and offers only a few rare forays into the progressive which should, given the line up, to confuse some but, for me, 'Chroma' is an album like we don't do anymore, of a great freshness and a great spontaneity which were one of the peculiarities of the 80s and, I hope that, despite the different routes of the basic trio, we'll can pretend to the album number 2... | |
