Get off the road! Please! God, this picture makes me anxious.
Singer-songwriter-keyboardist Mike Kershaw boasts an extensive back catalogue of solo work, with four full-length albums and one EP over the four years leading up to What Lies Beneath. His first project with BEM sports, for the first time, quite a few guest performers at his side, including BEM comrades Stuart Stephens (Whitewater), Leo Koperdraat and Frank Urbaniak (Fractal Mirror), and Tom Slatter (Tom Slatter), with Dan Bowles (The Rube Goldberg Machine) at the mastering desk.
What Lies Beneath is, above all else, a careful album: carefully constructed, carefully instrumentated, and carefully sung. And when I say "careful", that is absolutely a good thing. Have a listen:
One of the things I like about progressive music is variety, and that's on this album in spades, but one of the things I dislike is excess, especially where there doesn't seem to be a point to it. It's fortunate, then, that Kershaw's arrangements are so very well thought out. There's nothing here that doesn't belong, not a single ounce of padding or filler, and, as the track builds and coalesces, the growth feels considered rather than just being more for the sake of more. I don't think anyone would dispute the progressive influences at play here, but there's space to it too, and that's not as common or as lauded as it should be.
Reviewers have paid particular attention to Mike's vocals - they, like everything else on the album, are very measured, and do his beautifully elegant lyrics the justice they deserve. It's clear at every juncture that this is a man who cares deeply about the music he's making, and has refined and polished it to a mirror sheen.
Speaking of reviews, you can find one from Progradar here, one from Progarchy here, and one from PROG (noticing a pattern yet?) here. That last review is of particular note, as it calls Kershaw a "perennial underdog", and that sounds about right to us. This music deserves to reach far, far more ears, and, if you'd like yours to be among them, What Lies Beneath is available right now, physically or digitally, here.
Status Update
Unidentified Dying Objects is out this coming Friday! Time's running out if you want the album as soon as it drops - preorder now to avoid delays.
The countdown to Dial is a little longer (almost too long, we'd argue), but you can still preorder here, and listen to the single We Rescue right now to tide you over until September.
No review roundup this week. We'll catch you all next time!
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