Ardency's Dear Human is in many respects a re-visit to the 70's psychedelic rock days. Most tracks use haunting guitars mixed with soft acoustics, huge layers of soundscapes and eerie echoing vocals, with soft patterns and intense lyrics.rnWith the trippy instrumental break up songs (Opiate) being the first to start the album off and later (Heaven), (Inverted) and (Elastic), this album has almost a concept feel.rnSongs like Visceral Surgery and Great British Sunday have a more modern feel of maybe The Flaming Lips or a more experimental Verve and with even some more electronic synth moments on the intro to Neither Here of There, there is a modern ambient dance element (Boards of Canada or Air) too.rnTheir is quite a lot of diversity here with some songs melodies provided by guitars whilst others are softer with some delicate piano work (Ballad of The Broken Man).rnThe mood changes regularly and in Great British Sunday, I loved the change in tempo and mood at the end as it became uplifting and floaty!rnThe production on this record is good with the instruments mixing in and out well and it is a beautiful, chilled out and moving album yet with political and emotional lyrics it has a hard, intense edge at times especially in darker tracks such as Payment For Expenses or I Believe.rnThe vocal also has a folk feel and almost sounds like SImon and Garfunkel at times especially when the soft pianos or acoustic guitars lead the songs, Descending is a perfect example of this folk influence. rnThis album is perfect for lounging out to with a smoke on a hot summers day and if you like bands such as Flaming Lips, Pink Floyd or any other psychedelic rock you will probably enjoy this offering and with those more modern touches it does have a diverse and wider appeal, yet at times I still felt some songs dragged a little and with several songs being 7 odd minutes long, they didn't build or change enough to keep my interested. There was also a similar tempo to much of the album but with a great deal of atmosphere and some moving melodies certain tracks are really excellent and I look forward to hearing more of Ardency.
Reviewed by: Gaz
