Islnds

History of Robots

Written by: LF on 18/01/2017 15:44:20

Islnds is a new instrumental project by guitarist Chris Letchford from Scale The Summit. He wrote and performed everything on this debut album, "History of Robots", and as far as I can find out, it is also a self-released effort. I have seen it described as an electronic project as well as a jazz fusion one, while to me it fits just as well in the prog rock category and thus warrants a review here.

Across the record, guitar riffs and piano themes join with some very warm electronic layers to explore a kind of eerie but pleasant atmosphere of sound. As mentioned, this is an instrumental project but two guest vocalists appear on each their own song towards the end of the record. One is Joseph Secchiaroli (The Reign Of Kindo) who features on "Momnts" while ex-TesseracT singer Ashe O'Hara is the second one, appearing with his recognizable voice on "Nghts". The latter brings forth some of the most haunting guitar work of the record and its strong rhythm only has an even more solid impact as it is accompanied by O'Hara's high-pitched, atmospheric singing.

The album's very best tracks are found among the purely instrumental jams, though. "Invadr" with its quick tempo and lush electronic sounds has quickly become my favorite across the record but others with slightly less obvious electronic themes deserve a mention as well. The most memorable ones are the mellow and spacey "Crashng", the darker "Orbitl", and the more jazzed out "Controllr" that ends the album on a very open note, as if leaving room for a continuation of this "history of robots" in the future.

While obviously a testament to the skill of Letchford, this is not the most intense instrumental guitar record I've heard this year. Some tracks are more interesting than others but on the other hand, Letchford has created a very consistent and mysterious atmosphere throughout that's worth diving into. Thus, if you're looking for instrumental sounds to accompany your day, this could definitely be worth a listen, even if it won't blow you away completely.

7

Download: Invadr, Nghts (feat. Ashe O'Hara), Crashng
For The Fans Of: Plini, Scale The Summit, Intervals
Listen: facebook.com/islnds

Release date 21.09.2016
Self-released

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