Area 39 - "Stand Alone Together" Review

Artist/ Band: Area 39
Title: Stand Alone Together
Label: Self release
Year of Release: 2004
Artist/ Band Link (click for details/ ordering)

The Review:

Area 39, is a brand new prog rock band from England. The main person behind this band is guitarist and bassist Ray Turrell. He is joined by three singers, another guitarists, a keyboardist, and a solid rhythm section. The band’s debut, Stand Alone Together is a rather short one at under 30 minutes. The songs are mainly instrumental dreamy pieces that form a loose conceptual story, with some vocals, spoken word and radio excerpts to help tell the story.

The album begins on a somber moment with "The Dreamer Dreams", which has mostly voice-overs along with the instrumentations. Next up is my favorite of the album "Beyond the Clouds" features both male and female vocalists exchanging verses and to my ears this shows one of the band’s strengths utilizing vocals On the longest song "The Dreamers Dreamed", concludes this concept, summing up all the musical parts and the concept.

If this EP is any indication of what’s to come for this band then we’re in for a big treat and possible the birth a future progressive rock heavyweight. You can go to the band’s website to get this album or your favorite vendor should have it. Also if you visit Area 39's page at Souncloud page, you’ll be able to hear four songs in their entirety. This is a solid recommended release especially for fans of Pink Floyd, the spacier Ayreon tracks and most modern spacerock.

Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on March 14th, 2006

Tracks:

1. The Dreamer Dreams

2. Beyond The Clouds

3. Through The Eye Of A Telescope

4. Universal Dot To Dot

5. Changing Horizon

6. The Dreamers Dreamed