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Lonely Robot: Feelings Are Good
Lonely Robot - Feelings Are Good Album Art

Lonely Robot: Feelings Are Good

Melodic Progressive Rock
4.5/5.0

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InsideOut Music
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 15.07.2020 | Released: 17.07.2020

It's only been a year, but once more we visit with John Mitchell and his Lonely Robot solo project. With "The Astronaut Trilogy" now complete, Mitchell uses Lonely Robot to explore more personal matters, "individual experiences and narratives that I believe had been the cornerstones, good and bad, to my life."

John Mitchell - Click For Larger Image

John Mitchell

Musically, all these lyrical themes are wrapped up in Mitchell's signature melodic progressive rock. Wherein he writes all the tunes and plays all instruments excepting the drums played by Craig Blundell (recently known for his work with Steve Hackett). Upon listening, you'll discover some prominent musical elements to a Mitchell song composition. One, is a strong synth element which adds both lushness and density to many songs. Also, many songs, such as Armour For My Heart, Army Of One, or Suburbia, start with the synths paired with Blundell's drumming before expanding to add Mitchell's bass and guitar lines. Additionally, Mitchell offers an musical ebb and flow to his arrangements. This could be a juxtaposition of lightness and heavines as within Crystalline, where the former is froms two-thirds of the song, the heaviness rises briefly later with the guitar solo. Within The Silent Life, it's Mitchell's voice which steers the song, from desperately quiet in the first half to rising higher before the guitar solo in the second half.

Which leads to another fine Mitchell musical element, his guitar solos. Mostly they are crisp and expansive as within Crystalline, Life Is A Sine, and Suburbia. Alternatively, with Armour For My Heart, at a breakdown around three minutes, the guitar solo is light and subtle to start, only to rise sharper moving to the end. At the end of Keeping People As Pets (great title), his guitar line is so subtle you may miss it. The synth and rhythm section can combine to overwhelm it, but it's still sharp enough to be heard. More Mitchell musical elements could be explored, but are mostly well-known by fans, such as his melodic vocal style or his sensible use melody and harmony to keep the prog wonkery in line.

All in all, and simply said, Lonely Robot's Feelings Are Good is another entertaining album of John Mitchell's creative melodic progressive rock. Very recommended.



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The Bottom Line

Lonely Robot's Feelings Are Good is another entertaining album of John Mitchell's creative melodic progressive rock. Very recommended.

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