Album review: TONOCHROME – A Map In Fragments

Bad Elephant Music [Release date 02.02.18]

The debut album from London based art rock quartet, has proggy undertones, but at heart is more rooted in jazz and ambient soundscapes.

The brainchild of singer and main songwriter Andres Razzini, it’s an easy listening affair – the opener, The Ridge, building around a Tubular Bells style construction and ending up sounding like Japan meets Elbow.

Subtle brass and strings programming courtesy of keyboardist Steve Holmes – add to the ambience, combining well with the delicate guitar lines of guitarist Charlie Cawood (Mediaeval Baebes), and the understated rhythm section of Jack Painting (drums) and Andres Castellanos (bass), as one track weaves gently into the next, with a number of short ‘interludes’ disguising the transition.

There’s relatively little by way of rocking out, with sparsity and ‘mood’ being the main drivers, although numbers like ‘Just Like Us’ add a sprinkling of John Mitchell style proggy pop/rock to proceedings.

Impossible to pigeon hole, A Map In Fragments would probably be best described at ‘delicate melancholia delivered with a touch of unassuming class’. But tapping into a broad enough audience could prove tricky. ***

Review by Pete Whalley

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

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Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)