Music Banter - Love or Hate Reborn

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Title: Illusion Machine
Artist: Bret Higgins’ Atlas Revolt
Genre: Jazz/Fusion
Artist Reaction: Never heard of him so no reaction
Genre Reaction: Not the J word! :yikes:
Familiarity: Zero
Suggested by: grindy
A Little Background: Not a lot. Bret Higgins is apparently a bass player from Canada, who formed this band (possibly he’s famous for some other band but that information is not immediately available and I don't feel arsed to go searching.
Expectations: Reading the description on his bandcamp page it sounds hopeful, but you guys know me and jazz! Still, I’ll shoot for a low to high Like.

(3) Shadowboxing: Has a nice guitar line then the violins seem to take charge, and it gets a kind of Celtic feel. Quite upbeat, with some nice drumming. Some warbly organ now, kind of proggy in a way, also reminds me in part of early Vangelis work. Not half bad to be fair. Very Santanaesque guitar. Good start.
(3) Hunter: A little more laid-back with some really cool tribal style drums and a rippling piano merging with a growling guitar. Very catchy.
(3) Last Man Standing: Again has a sweet violin line with something like bongos or congas (always get them mixed up) driving the tune, and nice dollops of thick, throaty organ (ooer!) with this time a guitar more in line with The Shadows maybe.Lovely slick bass work. Like this.
(4) Euculipsa: This is really slow and reminds me of the theme to Twin Peaks. Cello or violin merges nicely with organ and maybe some harmonica, very relaxed. I can see how when they mention in the description of the music that it includes “film score” music, this is what they mean.
(2) Astral Soul Shake: Jazziest one yet, driven mostly by bright organ or piano, with that ticking percussion which seems to be the hallmark of jazz, at least from the little I’ve heard. Some pretty fine guitar on here though.
(3) Sun Gazers: This has a slowburning, sort of building opening then some choppy violin before the organ just takes it completely over. Really good. Oh here comes some snarly guitar. Better and better.
(3)Stero: Kind of a gypsy thing going on this, driven again by organ and some funky guitar. Still, I’m beginning to get a little bored. Far from the varied, genre-defying music this was touted as, it all seems to be along the same lines, with a few tweaks here and there. The same ideas, just used differently, a formula that gets added to or subtracted with each track. It’s okay, but it’s turning out not to be enough to hold my interest. This is okay but kind of only that. I don’t expect I’ll remember any of this music once this album is over, nor come back to it.
(4) Illusion Machine: Nice bass line and a soft violin carrying the tune, slower this time, little like a lament maybe, reminds me slightly of Waits’s work on Night on Earth, and there’s a certain European feel to it too - Spain, France maybe? Nice. Very nice.
(3) Zebop: This has a sort of Steely Dan edge to it, funky and laid-back with sax I think; is this the first time I’ve heard the horns? I think so. Again quite movie soundtrack-ish. Good work on the violin; sounds like more than one or overdubs, as they appear to be harmonising. Very Doors-ish organ, nice runs.
(3) Moon Chasers: Nice slow one to end on, and it’s good but again it’s sort of the same idea as many of the tracks here. They’re not bad ideas, not at all, they’re just too similar. I’d be hard-pressed to separate many of these tracks one from the other. All great music, sure, but not terribly engaging. Probably good to do other things to, not so good to review.

Conclusion: Think I said it all really in the track descriptions. Some really nice music, great musicianship, but most of it is too much alike to get me excited or even curious about checking out more. Maybe it’s the jazz elements, but though I did like it for what it was, much of it bored me and I don’t see myself ever being into this in any major way.

So, Love or Hate? Still, for what it is I can give it a Love (3)