Discarded Memories is the recent release from Dominic Sanderson. The young artist who is currently in school for music and English literature found himself in the same situation as countless others across the globe. Also similar to many other musicians he decided to make the most of time and make music in his home.
I have to say there aren’t many young musicians who sound as ’70s influenced as Sanderson. This is closer to my generation but even I’m a little too young to remember when King Crimson and Yes were at their peak. The music has an overt seriousness to it that I have to admit sometimes works for me because it does feel over the top in a good way. Any mention of mythology, mysticism, space and time brings me back to one of my favorite movies - Spinal Tap. The movie cleverly poked fun at bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and a mix of ’80s bands. Sanderson begins with “Empty Circles and Grains of Sand (Part 1)” and he quickly introduces sounds that have an ’70s aesthetic. There are synths that sound like old Rolands from back in the day and the instrumentation sounds like old school prog rock. The song is around twelve minutes long and you get everything from cerebral and mystical sounding ambient sections to blistering prog. Sanderson was going for something epic in scale and pulls it off. Sanderson makes the wise decision to scale back the epic qualities on “When Light Will Come” which is a solo acoustic guitar. That being said the song certainly has a flair for the dramatic and is also technically impressive. “The Cracks Appear” is a vocally charged song. I loved what he was doing with the vocal harmonies. “Smashed Beyond All Recognition” is an instrumental song which is again just drenched in ’70s aesthetics. Pink Floyd seemed to be an obvious influence. He closes with the more angelic and ethereal sounding “Empty Circles and Grains of Sand (Part 2).” It was around twenty years ago when I was in a similar situation to Sanderson. I was going to school for composition. Twenty years later and I’m still writing songs. I say this because it’s quite obvious Sanderson is not only passionate about his music but has the talent to back it up. Truth be told this most likely is just the beginning of musical journey and I thought this was a promising start to his. I look forward to hearing more. Recommended.
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