Almost 100 minutes telling the story of a man disillusioned by betrayal can only mean a prog album. Sure enough Tiles, with assistance in various parts from Ian Anderson, Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy and many others including the Miles Davis and Steven Wilson band, have created just this with this, their fifth album. Now for me progressive music is about shapes and being in tune with those shapes. I am a regular attendee at ProgPower Europe, where fellow concert-goers wax lyrical about Dream Theater lyrics or whatever and personal journeys to which their favourite progressive music takes them.
It is evident that Tiles have a 3D approach, taking us in the opening sections of this opus to higher spaces. There are nice sound touches but I was finding the first album a bit whiny and not inspirational. “Shelter in Place” takes us back to 1970s retro rock before drifting into oblivion but at least the dreamy “Stonewall” ups the ante with a nice oboe-infused section. The unexceptional prog rock then returns. It’s ok and only starts to get interesting with the sensation of Eastern vibes and a heartbeat. “Stonewall” has power but there’s nothing devastating. At the end there’s one of a couple of spoken quotes from Saint-Exupéry. I couldn’t see the point or context of that.
The album contains intermittent surges of power but I found it dreary and pretentious. You can throw al the names at it that you want but there has to be substance and I wasn’t finding very much. The first part of the album rumbles on quite nicely but I found myself out of its condescending zone. This is the land of Dream Theater and Spock’s Beard, who I like incidentally, but I was getting no feeling from “Pretending 2 Run”. “Voir Dire” is a nice rock instrumental, and I must say that the drum and guitar work are played with skill and sensitivity. This just didn’t hang together and wasn’t touching me at all. The ambiance picked up a bit on “Taken by Surprise” but largely the first part of this album passed me by.
The second part, comprising thirteen tracks, was a bit more off the wall than the first, and was generally more interesting in a fragmented way. The gloomy ambiance of Cynthesis is there but without the impact. “Midwinter” featured a haunting flute section from Ian Anderson, then has a good deep groove line, enhanced by a saxophone at one point but its lyrical core was bland. I found myself waiting too often for something interesting to happen. “Fait Accompli”, a well delivered instrumental type track, was for me one of the high points. “Other Arrangements” and “Pretending to Run reprise 1” took us briefly to the cosmos. I don’t know why that was or how they fitted in, but I liked the waves rippling through them. “Pretending to Run reprise 1” led into a classic prog structure but this and a few mystical suggestions and quotes from a French poet were never going to win me over. But it wasn’t all bad as an avant-garde prog frenzy then followed “reprise 1”, and I very much liked the last track “Backsliding” whose acoustic-symphonic sound and evocative drum patter gave the track the level of interest and atmosphere which was mostly lacking in the apparent quest for a prog masterpiece.
I found that listening to “Pretending 2 Run” became an obligation. I couldn’t get any inspiration from it. I was looking for crumbs of comfort and occasionally found them in the instrumental work but I cannot in any way say that this album was an uplifting experience for me.
(5/10 Andrew Doherty)
Leave a Reply