UK artist John Irvine has been releasing albums at a steady pace for the last decade and a bit, with the first album appearing back in 2011 and with a total of 8 studio albums to his name as of 2025. The most recent of these appeared now at the start of 2025. The album is called “Here Come the Robots!”, and was released through the label Head in the Door Records.
Irvine is most renowned for creating and exploring the jazzrock field of the progressive rock universe, but those looking for a more conventional take on this tradition will not find too much of it on this instrumental and futuristic sounding creation. While there most certainly are some core aspects of jazzrock present, in the expressive instrument details first and foremost, this isn’t an album that sounds like it belongs inside the jazzrock tradition.
The keyboard dominated landscapes here, are rather synth guitar dominated to be exact, strikes me as being much closer to the neo-progressive rock tradition. At least in terms of sound, but also in what one might call vibes. Flowing and floating keyboard textures explored and executed in elegant manners is a dominant element throughout here, and a playful spirit with an uplifting quality is the dominant mood and mode here, at least initially.
As the album develops and the unspoken storyline is explored the landscapes gains a gradually darker and more dramatic quality. The guitar comes in as a careful and underlying impact effect in majestic surges, steadily gaining a more prominent position as the landscapes explored grow gradually darker, while the flowing keyboard textures become firmer and with more of an edge than a flow as a defining feature. We do get some more careful and at times ambient interludes along the way too, some of which come with associations towards the likes of Vangelis but also Tangerine Dream, and we also get a token, playful straight up traditional sounding jazzrock interlude in the final part of this album.
Besides being elegant and gradually developing from a lighter toned and playful mood and atmosphere to a gradually darker and more ominous sound, the album as a whole also has a futuristic feel to it. So while there is a story told without words here, the very feel and sound of the landscapes explored does invoke the association towards a futuristic landscape and science fiction. And arguably in a rather more elegant manner than for instance Christopher Franke did it when he made the soundtrack to Babylon 5 – an old sci-fi series I’m enjoying rewatching these days. And perhaps pertinent to this is the fact that “Here Come the Robots!”is the third album in a conceptual sci-fi creation, where the previous albums were released in 2022 and 2024 respectively.
For me at least this is a solid and compelling album that should have a wide appeal that goes beyond the core jazzrock fans as well as beyond the progressive rock universe as such. I would suggest that quite a few people that enjoy the likes of Vangelis and Tangerine Dream would be fascinated by the landscapes crafted and explored on this creation for starters, and the mood and vibes of them might well appeal to many science fiction fans in general too. With the delightful mix and production making this an album that may well have an appeal among audiophiles for that aspect of the album experience alone. But for the core audience, those with a fancy for keyboards dominated, elegant and playful instrumental progressive rock, this album should be quite the delightful experience.
Rating: 8/10
Track list:
1. A Dream of Utopia 10:05
2. The Coexistence of Opposites 8:08
3. Here Come the Robots! 3:49
4. The End of Days Suite: 1. The City Lights at Twilight 7:57
5. The End of Days Suite: 2. Building the Geodesic Dome 3:32
6. The End of Days Suite: 3. An Aerial Cage 11:59
Links:
https://johnirvine.co.uk/
