Michael Garrison
Brave New Worlds
If you have liked Michael’s last few albums it is a dead cert that you will go for this one as well. He knows what his fans like and he serves it up for them in his typical no nonsense style. You wouldn’t exactly call his sounds or the way he uses them subtle but his music is certainly full of life, energy and enthusiasm.

‘Vertical Circles’ starts off with what sounds like a futuristic helicopter coming in to land but it isn’t long before instantly recognizable Michael Garrison sequences and lead lines combine to produce a very positive and happy piece. The melodies, especially in the second half of this track are very strong indeed. ‘Call me down’ gets straight into the sequence, blasting away at 100 miles an hour and not letting up for a second. Half way through we get a heavily vocoded female vocal sounding rather charming but I wouldn’t have been able to make out what was being said if the words hadn’t been printed in the booklet. Immediately after an awesome guitar sound adds to the epic nature of the track.

‘Rings of Pegasus’ combines a snare drum sequence with symphonic pads but then angelic vocal effects are used to soften the piece a little. A string fanfare provides (for Michael) a long intro of thirty seconds before the ballsy sequence gets ‘Renegade Moon’ under way. Very jolly stuff indeed. Staccato lead lines are much more the Garrison trade mark than long held down pads and they punch home the melody in exciting fashion. ‘Journey of Thoughts’ is the longest track at over twelve minutes but it is also one of the most relaxed. Of course we still get the Garrison sequences and rhythms but they provide structure to dreamy melodies rather than a hurricane blast. Some gentle female vocoded vocals can be heard and then to give contrast, aggressive guitar chords.

‘Into The Distance’ makes use of an exquisite rumbling sequence which as in the previous track caresses the senses rather than acting as a rhythmic assault. A lovely track. We then get the piece ‘Visions’, originally released on the ‘Eclipse’ album which I think came out about ten years ago. Unless he has changed the title of it it was not on the CD release however. Instrumentally it is a very orchestrated piece but it is the vocal, again angelic, that provides the main focus. I wonder why this track wasn’t on the CD? Can any Garrison fan tell me as I would be interested to know? (DL)

This page is part of a frame set. If you can't see the information strip to the left of the screen then click on the smd logo above.