Nine Stones Close is the solo project of Adrian “Ade” Jones, (guitars & vocals) from a band called Lie Big. I haven’t heard the band Lie Big so I can’t make any comparisons. Musically it’s a blend of a few styles, with bands like Pink Floyd (Wish You Were Here), Porcupine Tree (Sky Moves Sideways) and some modern indie sounds spread out among the debut album, St. Lo.
According to the Nine Stones Close page at CDBaby, “St-Lo is based around a near death experience in Ade’s LIFE and the feelings and dreams induced during that traumatic event. It also says that the album is somewhat an exorcism of some personal ghosts and an outpouring of emotional debris into the music and lyrics.”
Without getting too philosophical, I’d say music always keeps a person sane, so it’s a perfect way for a musician to “cleanse” their spirit of unwanted things. Also some musicians tend to have more tortured souls, so music is their outlet.
While by some people’s view this is a rather short album (38+ minutes) but I sense Ade wanted quality rather than quantity to convey his vision. This is by far one of the more exciting and emotional albums I’ve heard. The album was released in 2008 and went under many‘s radar including mine. Now that it’s in full view of my attention, I must recommend THIS ALBUM TO fans of the more spacey side of progressive rock as well as fans of the aforementioned bands.
Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on October 24th, 2009
