Title - Halos And Dogs
Artist - Robeone
For those not in the know, Robeone is essentially keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist recording artist and keyboard icon Robert Schindler who now, once again, steps into the sonic spotlight with his 2022 solo album Halos And Dogs.
With a cryptic title like that you would be correct if you found the
all instrumental album to be experimental in a 21st century sense, for it is just that, and all in a good way.
For being all instrumental, the six cut CD encompasses a range of
music—from electronic, beat-friendly space music to avant garde prog-jazz.
In fact, the jazzier aspects of Halos And Dogs can’t be denied as several tracks have a solid mid-1970s Chick Corea in Return To Forever vibe while the more experimental tracks echo electronic keyboard trendsetters from Tangerine Dream and Jan Hammer to Jean-Michel Jarre.
For further proof of just that, the techno percussion and melodic attack on Morning Rush is very Hammer-esque, but the thing that sets Robeone apart is his ability to converge a range of styles in an effort to come up with his own unique sound perspective.
Thus, it is safe to say that fans of progressive instrumental electronica and jazz fans turned on by the late Chick Corea’s daring fusion keyboard sound in Return To Forever and Jan Hammer’s late 1980s techno-prog soundtracks will find much to like about Robeone and his latest opus Halos And Dogs.
Having played keyboards for a wide range of artists, bands and musicians, including Ronnie Spector, Johnny Nash and Ruth Copeland, Robert Schindler, now at age 70, has established himself as a modern day keyboard virtuoso.
Those following his career will note that Halos And Dogs is actually his sixth solo album. Showcasing inventive sound layers revealed with each
following spin, Robeone’s Halos And Dogs is clearly an essential album of progressive electronic music.
1. Don’t Ever Stop Your Heart (6:38)
2. Morning Rush (5:10)
3. Yesterday Again (5:19)
4. Turn Off Your Brain Part 2 (12:31)
5. Clusters (4:47)
6. Halos (6:17)
This quite stunningly orchestrated, wholly ambient, and tremendously effervescent new album opens on the cinematic architecture of Don’t Ever Stop Your Heart and backs that up with the ’80s synth urgency of Morning Rush and then brings us the languishing beauty of Yesterday Again.
Up next is the 12 minute opus, and at times wholly translucent, quaveringly ethereal, exhilarating synth and guitar blended Turn Off Your Brain Part 2, with the album rounding out on the passionate melodic rhythms found within Clusters, coming to a close on the ornate, at times soaring piano balladry of Halos.
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