I have come across Tim Hunter primarily for his work with Thierry Sportouche (of Acid Dragon fame) as half of Silver Hunter, but here we find him taking a different approach in a concept album which is firmly rooted in Eighties synth pop. Interestingly though, as well as providing all instrumentation and some of the vocals, he has brought in some guests to assist in telling the story of The Semaphore Signaller and the dehumanising machine he is part of. The first of these is none other than Guy Manning (Damanek, The Tangent), plus Charlie Bramald (Ghost of the Machine) and Courtney Visser (a Leeds College of Music graduate). It is subtitled ‘A Synth Wave Opera’, and I must confess that I cannot think of any others which could lay that claim.

Given that Guy is also a multi-instrumentalist it is strange in some ways that he has been brought in just as a singer on this album, but the vision is very much that of Tim and he knows exactly what he is setting out to achieve. He does it so well that I soon think I am very much the wrong person to be reviewing this as he has the Eighties synth sound off to a tee, and I didn’t like it first time around either! I was listening to an awful lot of Jethro Tull in the ‘80’s, plus classic prog as well as throwing myself headlong into the NWOBHM scene and loathed much of what was in the charts (not much has changed in that respect), but I can certainly respect what he has achieved here. Thompson Twins are clearly recognisable as an influence, while Depeche mode and Gary Numan also have a part to play, but all brought together in a story of someone who hates his day job, with just a little more electric guitar than was present in the day. It does not feel over-produced, and Tim has cleverly dropped back from a wall of sound approach and there is a fine use of space. Certainly worthy of investigation both by those who are intrigued as well as those genuinely into the genre. Clean and fascinating.

Rating: 7/10

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