I don’t get to say this every day, but one of my favorite indie artists dropped new material after basically seven years of radio silence. My entire body lit up with excitement when I saw in my inbox that Theo Young is releasing a new album. Shadowplay, his debut EP, was something I had on heavy rotation a few years ago when I first discovered it and it became a staple of many of my playlists. It’s by far one of my favorite instrumental prog records. It boasts a vibrant and energetic delivery, rife with scintillating glimmers and basically everything you can associate with a positive vibe in that stylistic area of music.
In a way it can be tiring to keep listening to a thing (which you love) and thinking that a follow up may never see the light of day. I can’t even count how many times I’d be staring at the song titles, wistfully and loudly exhaling, muttering under my breath something around the lines of “Soo…new album? When, if ever?”. It’s one of the rare and honestly, fantastic circumstances when that ‘prayer’ got an answer so concrete.
Without further ado, Tales From the Inland Sea is Theo Young’s full length debut record and it’s here! My enthusiasm was fairly curbed, upon my first listen, as the album bears practically no striking resemblance to Shadowplay. Well, except “Sea of Souls” and part of “FMP”, but we’ll get to that soon. Tales From the Inland Sea sees Theo Young venturing further into the realm of instrumental prog, or rather, into discovering more clearly and attempting to crystallize his musical identity.
Tales From the Inland Sea, as the title suggests, is something of an anthology of stories. Each song portrays in a narrative fashion either an image, or a feeling, giving way to something of a cinematic feeling across any given song. While there doesn’t seem to be a direct link, or unifying thread between the songs, aside from some influences that hearken to Plini’s more recent musical explorations, the album flows quite neatly.
There’s a good sense of pace and dynamics, playing well over the course of its contents, which span little over an hour. So, naturally, it would be essential to have this over an extended period of time. I don’t mind the length, I actually welcome it and feel that many albums lost touch with extending their breadth, although, I equally cherish bands that abstain from adding filler just to pad the run time.
The general demeanor of the record rests rather firmly on the softer side of things, at least when compared to Shadowplay. Stylistically the rock foundation veers more into the mellower types, while also exploring certain funk influences, emphasizing mood and atmosphere above phrasing and structure. As I see it, the architectural elements are only serving as a means to this end.
The positivity and brightness is still very much alive, just like on Shadowplay, although it may appear subdued, mainly because of the laid back delivery of the tunes. Although, what the album lacks in sheer (explosive) excitement value, it makes up for in diversity. The palette of timbres and tones is ample and distributed thoughtfully throughout, making for an engaging and immersive experience. The songwriting also bodes quite well with the aforementioned, further catalyzing and capitalizing on the experience.
I like to say about albums that they’re experiences and/or journeys, but make no mistake, Tales From the Inland Sea, is legitimately both of those things at highly compelling degrees. There’s definitely a mood, or state of being required to tune in appropriately to the emotional charge that’s present. I think it’s a rewarding experience, which is worth undertaking for those into all of the above.
While I could nitpick on the production for being not entirely as organic and life-like for the needs of the compositions, I’d cut it some slack due to it being sufficiently polished to not draw away my attention from enjoying the music, and also because we’re looking at an artist who’s still going through the process of discovery and refinement.
I could have definitely went with a track by track review, because the album warrants it to an extent, but it’s maybe a tad too exhaustive and could potentially spoil the listeners initial impact as well as further enjoyment.
I’ll only name my favorite bits, as I would be simply remiss if I wouldn’t at least underline that. The recurring lick, or motif, in “Mwnt Bay” is definitely one of my favorite moments. It’s such an oddly satisfying and soothing bit, which makes me feel like gliding over green rolling hills, under clear skies, basking in the relentless glory of the sun, but also as if I’m sometime far in the past; making me nostalgic over something I never experienced. I love it.
Due to my bond with Shadowplay, my other absolute favorite parts of the record are “FMP”, due to its immediate feeling of delivery and the stylistic embellishments which take heavy cues from the Shadowplay days. The other one is “Sea of Souls”. That one is actually a song that started as some riffs written just before “Spoil Me Toast Boy”, a single from 2014. The material laid dormant for a long time until it was basically resurrected to play a part on Tales From the Inland Sea, as a fantastic closer, a sweet throwback, and a nice dash of even more diversity.
I didn’t forget, but I wanted to leave this entire remark as my ending statement. Above and aside all things, at the end of the day, Tales From the Inland Sea is a whole lot of fun. I think that’s probably one of its most important and ‘redeeming’ factors. It manages to be so much fun that I would sometimes grin and not even realize it as I’d be listening to the album. Aside the relaxing factor of some of the songs, the rest just put me in a sunny, good mood, feeling utterly refreshed. That’s very nice and mind you, it pulls this off without being cheesy or cringy even in the slightest, which is an issue that bogs down a lot of records that attempt this. Alright, so that’s it from me, just go and listen to the album right now!
