One has to admire Stephen Latin-Kasper, the man behind Infinitwav. Not only is he a solo instrumentalist who he recorded this his debut album over a period of three years, but he wrote the extended story that fills the booklet explaining the rationale behind it, and also made the decision that as he had written it for vinyl then that was the way he was going to release it. I can’t remember the last time anyone actually sent me a record to review, but it has to be at least fifteen years! When Stephen first contacted me, he had this to say. “When I started writing the music for ‘Humans’, my intent wasn't to create a progressive album. And after being influenced by the writing of the story that goes with it, the music morphed. The project turned into a concept album in a weird organic way that had nothing to do with planning. Upon completion of the last song, and listening to it myself, I honestly didn't know what genre it belonged in. I only started thinking of it as progressive myself after other people who heard it called it that. To me, what I created was simply a fusion of classical, jazz, and rock.”
I believe that this is progressive in its truest sense, as opposed to a genre, as if I had to put a tag on this it would be electronic foremost but with lots of other influences. It is certainly unusual for an electronic album to contain as much percussion as this, and while it is never massively overt, it is definitely an important factor of the music. I have found that this is an album that truly does repay the listener who pays attention and has the booklet in front of them to be able to read the story about the different species of the human race (I thoroughly enjoyed how he describes Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg). This album is probably best viewed as a story with music being used to tell it, as it is the two together that make it work. While the album on its own is interesting, it needs the story to take it to the next level, while the same is also true in reverse. I wonder what the next step is for Stephen, as there is the impression that this has been left in a state that it can be viewed as complete, or that there is another chapter to come. But will there be a follow-up? Only time will tell. Some of these songs can be played at www.infinitwav.com, and it is certainly well worth seeking out.
