Composer and musician Malcolm Galloway continues to lead a double life where on one hand he is the leader of UK progressive band Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate, and on the other releases music, which is contemporary classical, minimalist, electronic, and instrumental. This is his seventh solo album, which opens with the longest track on the album, “Metazoa One”, which was released as a single back in May 2023. It also includes a track which will be of great interest to fans of HOGIA as here we get the original version of “The Anxiety Machine” which was later rearranged and became three pieces on the album ‘The Light Of Ancient Mistakes’.
There is deliberately a lot of repetition within this album, and while that does take us more into the world of ambient there is undoubtedly far more focus. And while atmospherics are very important, they are there are support to the main melodic thrusts as opposed to being all there is. This is far less whimsical than one might imagine, far more melodic, and while Malcolm defines his music as above, there are also plenty of examples why this would also be considered progressive, very much in the style of Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis, with some Tangerine Dream textures here and there. This is another intriguing release from Galloway, who since this has already released another HOGIA album and shows no sign at all of slowing down any time soon. This will be of interest to anyone who enjoys the melodic drift of contemporary classical and electronic music as opposed to anything hitting you right between the eyes.
