Play 90 second soundbite of 'I Miss You' @ 'CD quality'
Once again lyrically interesting and on first hearing, less manic. Musically more controlled and with a much smoother feel. Guy's warbling (it's not actually vibrato) voice seems stronger than on earlier works and he's thrown in a few effective spoken passages for good measure.
The pacey 'Advent', an absolutely typical Guy Martyr piece featuring some great guitar accompaniment, kicks things off. 'Looking For Grace' is just slightly calmer and again Guy's short instrumental passages show a degree of improvement, not so much in his playing - but the writing. 'Long War' is quite an oddball piece. Frantically paced vocals and again some nice, short instrumental 'riffs'. 'Can You See' opens subtly with mildly phased guitar which gently picks out the main theme. This is nicely constructed and thought out if still a little raw round the edges! 'I Miss You' winds things up nicely; a gentler overall feel against a deeply toned guitar.
'Cloud Pics' then is lyrically interesting - musically phrenetic - aurally a vast improvement on earlier essays and generally - vastly challenging!!'
What's great about Guy Martyr is that he writes, plays and sings generally for his own pleasure and entertainment but he's not frightened to share his works with others prepared to listen. I think he realises that he'll never be able to retire on the proceeds of his pleasure (but says that's exactly what he would like to do) but the fact that he keeps on going is commendable. What's more commendable is that with each outing Guy has made some pretty obvious improvements. His use of 'light and shade' is pretty cool and he has a knack of trying the unusual, if not totally weird!
Keep on doin' it Guy - keep on pushing those boundaries!! 'Cloud Pics' is still only suitable listening for those looking for a musical challenge. Still not For the fainthearted!!
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