US project SECONDS BEFORE LANDING is the creative vehicle of composer and musician John Crispino. He commenced work on this venture in 2011 and for the next two years worked to finalize his musical ideas into the album “The Great Deception”: A concept album with a dystopian storyline, set at a point not too long in our future.
Seconds Before Landing has been marketed as a band exploring ambient progressive rock, a description that dos summarize quite a lot about what’s going on I guess. In terms of sound I often caught myself thinking about Trey Gunn’s Quodia project from a few years back when I listened to this one. Not that similar in sound really, but some musical details and the overall mood is to some extent comparable.
The majority of the compositions on this disc revolves around bass details. Toned down circulating bass motifs more often than not, and of a groove oriented variety first and foremost. Gentle and mostly plucked, often resonating instrument details supplements this basic melodic framework, with various layers of futuristic inspired sounds placed on top. Occasionally we’re treated to a harder edged guitar motif or a more majestic synth motif too, but most of all we’re dealing with careful, gentle and indeed ambient constructions. The main element that transports these songs out into more energetic territories are lead vocals and rhythms with more of an intense delivery, which doesn’t happen that often really, and longing guitar soloing Pink Floyd style, which is a key feature frequently employed throughout.
Otherwise spoken word samples from or inspired by 1950’s radio commercials are used to tie the different songs together and as an identity enhancing feature, some spoken words sequences are also used in the songs as such, supplementing the mostly spoken male voice and female lead and backing vocals. All of this set in a mix with a dark and bleak yet warm and organic sound, a superb mixing and producing job that really does elevate the listener experience quite a bit. Most impressive to me were the radio friendly, catchy and groove-laden affair They’re All Around You, with the extremely enticing bass motif central in Right Before Your Eyes elevating also this one to a higher plane of interest.
A certain taste for bleak, dystopian inspired moods and atmospheres is something of a prerequisite to be able to enjoy Seconds Before Landing’s debut album “The Great Deception”. A proposed key audience as defined from a musical point of view should probably be those who have a soft spot for the more ambient oriented excursions of Trey Gunn, and especially those among them who also enjoy the accessible side of bands such as Pink Floyd in general and guitar soloing Gilmour style in particular.
My rating: 80/100
