The analogue - The Analogue

The Analogue

The Analogue
self-released; 2013

3.8 out of 5

By Rachael  Zaretsky

The concept of The Analogue started with a very simple idea: what if a person awakened one day in a world with nobody else and no memory? The music on the record follows The Analogue in his travels following his awakening, whilst offering few clues about his origin and nature. Through the story, the piece explores ideas surrounding energy, from its deadly use in weapons to renewable power and its ultimate role in the life and death of the universe. This idea is what intrigued me to listen further to The Analogue.

As The Analogue describes itself, it is nothing like what you have heard before, nor will it be like anything you will ever hear again. With its light but progressive melody of the guitar and the eerie vocals that play off each other, The Analogue starts out with “Wall of Fire,” which amazes you like the brightness of a volcano before it consumes you. It has strong vocals with guitar that does not overpower. As I was listening to this song some of the sounds such as the synthy crystal bell sound reminded me of a song I used to listen to in high school called "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield.  While the first song didn't cling to many genres there was a 80's type vibe that was emanating from his voice. Then “Expanse” tells the tale of a thawed earth, with sounds from a very different new age keyboard, guitar and synthesizer that keeps your mind wanting more. The song starts to rock out at the end in a valiant way with synth horns and thunderous drums  While “Aira Force” is even more perplexing as it is the opposite of “Wall of Fire” in the sense that the vocals are more of the background and synthesizer and guitar is the foreground music. We close with "Streetlight" which has some of the best vocal and guitar work on the album. It is a powerful song full of emotion and ends with a bang rather then a wimper.

The Analogue keeps pulling you in like the story it promises but it is not for everyone. If you are looking for straightforward good feeling rock songs, this is not the band for you. In fact I would categorize this as new age or Symphonic rock if you had to, but honestly I haven’t heard anything like it in this genre. It is also not folk rock or anything you listen to for easy listening on the radio, which could be a smart or a very bad move on their part. On one hand it is unique. On the other hand, how many times do you have the craving for Symphonic rock? 

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