Paul Lawler Bronx Age

This debut release by Paul Lawler is by far the best CD I have heard in a while. The album opens with 'The Shadow', a stunning piece of driving synth music. It opens with the sound of thunder and a gentle night 'twittering' sound which builds up with a great percussive rhythm into a superb melody line with powerful layered piano and synth rhythms. This is a real standout track which compels you to listen further. The track ends with a nice fade in to 'Ghost Town'. This begins with some brooding synth work which develops into a lovely atmospheric piece with a great smokey jazz saxophone sound which brings to mind dark empty streets at night and some of the more atmospheric moments of the TV program 'Twin Peaks'. Track 3 is an altogether different piece. The track, called 'Area 51', is a very spacey affair with plenty of dark vocal effects that make an altogether rather frightening piece. 'Desert Drive, the fourth track, has a great driving percussive synth lead that develops into a great powerful synth rhythm with some excellent counter melodies cropping up all over the place. This fades into track 5, 'Eye For An Eye' which starts with a nice trumpet sound, laid over some excellent keyboard and percussion work which builds up halfway through the track into a 'Miami Vice' style drum sequence and on into a nice oriental rhythm that brings to mind 'Mind Over Matter' and some of their more driving pieces. Track 6 is the title track and this has a very ambient feel to it with a steady drum rhythm overlaid with various short melodic synth bursts. This track really shows Paul's versatility and his willingness to experiment with more ambient styles along with more accepted EM styles. Next up comes 'John Doe - 1742' which begins with crowd noise, gun shots and police sirens before changing into a nice, dancey, drum rhythm. This is overlaid with some excellent melodies incorporating some vocal samples and is a very infectious piece of music. From here we progress to 'The Harbour'. This is very different from the previous track and begins with some electronic bird noises over a brooding synth line with a nice bass guitar sound. This builds into a driving, almost "industrial", melody that continues along nicely before ending ending with a nice descending, echo effect. This goes straight into track 9, 'Targets' which starts with piano and a pulsating rhythm that has a very eerie feel to it. This continues in a very dark vein with more great piano and spacey synth work with a slight "XFiles" feel to it. The final track, 'Day Of The Dead' begins with some more drums, leading into a nice melody that is not quite dark as the title suggests. A nice trumpet voice keeps the momentum going with changing percussive styles and synth voices overlaid with frightening vocal samples speaking of zombies. The track fades nicely at the end just as the zombies catch their prey.......... This is a stunning first release, and although there are bound to be comparisons to Andy Pickford, and his albums for Centaur, there is a real individuality and unique creative quality to the album. Paul writes on the album notes that it is a "largely filmic sounding album that combines elements of both electronic and orchestral colours". He achieves the blend with great success and is an absolute must-have for any EM fan. (Andy Garner)

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