Album review: WILL PIKE – Elevator

October 16th, 2026 by petefeenstra

The Elastic Stage Store [Release date 13.10.26]

Will Pike’s ‘Elevator’ is an impressive art rock and ambient concept album.

It’s glued together by amoeba like soundscapes with a proggy undertow, and interestingly it’s an instrumental album with a sense of spiritual enquiry.

Pike is a guitar playing multi instrumentalist, whose ambient synth playing occupies a pivotal role in his atmospheric layered sound.

His use of drones, slide and a wide array of tones makes for a confident album built on strong structures and fired by a musical ebullience derived from playing all the instruments himself.

He also shifts the singer songwriter’s story telling and sometimes autobiographical function to that of the art-rock composer.

In doing so he is able to dive deeper with instrumental compositions that illuminate his shifting moods and revelatory feelings.

His deft use of subtle tones, textures, cute dynamics and a unique strand of eclecticism make for significant thematic developments.

‘Elevator’ impressively combines ambient music and a mystical bent with proggy undercurrents to usher into a troubled world of tumbled emotions, and uncertainty, which cleverly uses the ‘Elevator’ title track as a metaphor for heightened consciousness.

He effectively uses a combination of the composer’s ability to shape rhythmic and melodic structures, with the addition of a crib sheet in the form of lyrical liner notes.

Deep in the album, he draws on several different musical on a track called ‘Flawed’. It’s the perfect meeting of music, imagery and feel, with an inviting blend of jangling guitar, ethereal drones, nifty percussion, a Theremin sound and a buzz tone solo with echoes of Caravan.

The song depicts the life the narrator wants to leave behind: “Indifferent, mechanical and hollow”, and one in which “Rules that never cared about people – only progress, only profit, only the illusion of upward motion.”

The latter concept brings us back to the elevator, which ultimately takes him to the closing track, ‘Penthouse Planet Suite.’, a place in which he eschews the material world for a return to nature: “A Place where worth isn’t measured in floors, or titles but in presence, connection and the simple act of being alive.”

He saves his Zen style revelation to the very last: “I feel like I am stepping into a greater consciousness.”

He then musically illustrates this with a mix of dreamy aching guitar, nuanced synth and intricate tones.

This is an old school album made with contemporary technology and real vision. It allows him to forge a coherent musical journey from the opening fusion tinged soundscapes of ‘Travel Box’ – complete with Larry Carlton and Lee Ritenour style guitar, and a Stones influenced ‘Miss You’ riff – to his spiritual rebirth on the closing 8 minute worth of ‘Penthouse Planet Suite’.

And if the lofty quasi-philosophical aspects of the album mean you can’t always tell what is planned and what is improvised, his focus barely wavers on album that flows mellifluously and constantly finds new ways to draw the listener in.

Long time Pike fans will already be familiar with his ambient post Floydian musical landscapes, heavily influenced by David Gilmour’s guitar playing, but the emphasis here is more closely aligned to the narrator (i.e. the composer’s) shifting thoughts.

Thus ‘Waiting’ cleverly uses a chunky (albeit distorted) bass riff, not unlike the Beatles ‘Come Together’, on another dreamy piece with guitar squalls, keyboards and a luscious slide riff.

The latter brings additional impetus and drive over a rough hewn drum track. It’s smoothed out by the pulsing bass and an aching guitar finish which mirrors lyrical thoughts: “Waiting has become a rhythm I barely notice, a pause between one part of life, and the next …..”

‘Closing Doors’ locks into a dense repeated bass line with sculpted guitar, and spiky percussion, as part of an ethereal wash which conjures up significant imagery: “My mind seems to be in an elevator of its own, travelling from sadness, to confusion, to anger. The elevator rises, but my sense of self sinks.”

The notably darker textures at the 4.01 mark, comprise guitar squalls, a repeated doomy keyboard riff and some belligerent cymbals splashes, leading to a perfunctory ending, almost as if the lift has come to a sudden stop.

The sludgy rhythm on ‘Isolated’ finds a broader expression with a return to a hypnotic musical landscape, which again perfectly nuances the narrator’s thoughts: “Just me and the noise of the machinery that feels colder than before.”

There’s a reference to “Emotional vertigo” on the excellent ‘Broken In One’, full of spindly echoed guitar which hovers, sparkles and resonates.

This leads us to the well crafted ‘Reconnect’, with a mix of what sounds like a mandolin, deftly plucked bass notes, soft shifting drones and uplifting slide guitar, as he elucidates a dichotomy comprising: “two parallel worlds and only one truly mattered.”

He also presents ‘Reconnect’ as a de facto connection between the layered music and his mystic imagery: “The truth isn’t loud, it arrives gently like light revealing the uneven surface of something I once thought was smooth.”

In short, ‘Elevator’ is a meticulously planned and well played instrumental concept album. The prog and ambient influences successfully combine with thematic, musical and emotional imperatives to give this album its undoubted substance. ****

Review by Pete Feenstra

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

Josh now hosts “Taerk’s Tracks” as part of the Singer Songwriter Sunday sequence on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio.

This is the first show broadcast on 27 September. Josh presents some of his inspirational artists and tracks.

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 20 September 2026.

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More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

Power Plays w/c 12 October 2026

TAKEDA – Lion’s Den (Drongo Records)
SCARDUST – Symphony (Frontiers)
AMBERLIN – Gravity (Rude Records/Equal Vision Records)
MISSING TOYS – Lifeline (Pride & Joy Music)
SWEET GORILLA – It’s Your Life (5000 Records)
ROYAL BLOOD – Dead Company (Warner Records)

Featured Albums w/c 12 October 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

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