Album review: LONELY ROBOT – A Model Life

Inside Out [Release date 26.08.22]

Lonely Robot originally started out as a planned trilogy of album’s by John Mitchell (Arena, Frost*, It Bites) and luckily for us listeners & fans he decided to carry on with Lonely Robot, which brings us to this, album number five.

Commentating on the making of ‘A Model Life’ John Mitchell said “it was very much a lifeline and indeed wake-up call at the end of a particularly personally challenging couple of years. Creating it made me realise that ultimately, life is impermanent and the one true thing that gives me a focus and anchor is and has always been music. Long may that be the case.”

Already three songs have been released to the streaming world ahead of the release. The first was ‘Recalibrating’ which is a nifty piece of prog rock and has the most instant chorus on the album. This was followed by ‘The Island Of Misfit Toys’, which has a great video well worth your time watching. Loving the keyboard riff on here which recalls It Bites (must be time for their third album with John Mitchell to be recorded?!).

The most recent pre-relased song is ‘Digital God Machine’. This one sweeps you in on a sea of keys, creating an album highpoint for this reviewer. The song’s subject takes a well-aimed pop those online trolls who seem to be on the ascendancy rather than crawling back under the rocks/dingy rooms they came from…

An air of Pink Floyd on a couple of the songs, most notably on ‘Spheres In Transition’. That guitar solo is the finest on the album. ‘Duty Of Care’ looks at the relationship between the adopted and adopter. The music revolves around a music box like motif and again the guitar on this one is truly magnificent.

Perhaps not the most instant of Lonely Robot albums after a few initial plays, however, it reveals more on each subsequent listen. The album shows that music is so important to us all and I for one am grateful we have musicians like John Mitchell able to express many of our hopes, fears and thoughts in captivating music and lyrics. ****

Review by Jason Ritchie

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)