Lunatic Soul – Lunatic Soul
Kscope Music – KSCOPE112P – 13 October 2008
By Neil Hauer
Lunatic Soul marks Polish phenom Mariusz Duda’s first solo effort. Best known as the frontman for burgeoning progressive metal group
Riverside, he’s opted for a decidedly more simplistic approach with this album; there’s not a note of electric guitar to be found here. Instead, we’re given immersive soundscapes and sprawling, intricate sonic tapestries with ambition enough to match their writer’s primary band’s works. Naturally, this experimentation leaves a greater chance for disappointment; this record, however, does anything but.
From the onset, it’s evident that the music here is more than the average shallow singer/songwriter composition. This is an album that requires close attention and no distractions to maximize its effect, and as such it’s best absorbed in the quiet and solitude of a darkened room or an isolated wilderness at dusk. If you allow it to, this record will take you on a vivid journey through an incredible variety of moods and locales. From the tribal Amazonian flutes of opener ‘
The New Beginning’, to the arid, desolate eastern climes of ‘
Out on a Limb’ and windswept foothills of ‘
Near Life Experience’, these are works intended to immerse the listener, and they succeed wonderfully. Naturally, certain songs have more depth than others, and while emotionally charged pieces such as ‘
Adrift’ provide immediate satisfaction, it’s the more patient tracks that slowly unravel that are the real gems of this album. ‘
The Final Truth’ is perhaps the best of these, as it begins with Duda’s gentle vocals overlaying relaxed percussion before growing towards a cathartic final minute as Wawrzyniec Dramowicz’s flawlessly natural drums underscore the track’s culmination brilliantly.
At its heart, all music is composed with the goal of connecting musician to listener, and fan to kindred fan through the most basic of human conditions: emotional response. With
Lunatic Soul, Mariusz Duda has crafted a mesmerizing, intoxicating masterpiece that pulls the listener in a thousand different directions, challenging intellectually while remaining accessible through simplistic empathy. This is a shining example of what music should accomplish, and it comes highly recommended to anyone looking for an album that is rewarding on the first listen and on the fiftieth.
Official Lunatic Soul Website
Official Lunatic Soul Myspace
Official Kscope Music Website
