Here is the latest offering from European progressive rock trio Lunear, who are comprised of JP Benadjer (guitars, bass, vocals), Seb Bournier (drums, vocals) and Paul J. No (lead vocals, keyboards). I have not always been the biggest fan of their output, but there is no doubt that 2024’s ‘From Above’ was a huge step in the right direction, and here we find them making another change which is massively positive. There are a couple of longer numbers here, but in reality, this release is all about highly melodic songs where crossover sometimes moves into neo, while the harmonies are reminiscent of the softer forms of American AOR.
It is an album filled with light and sunshine as the trio continue to progress on the musical journey they commenced in 2018, with this being their fifth album to date, and is a million miles away from the album of covers they released in 2022 of which I was certainly not a fan. This is easy listening prog, but that is not to say it is not worth discovering as there are times when it is nice to move away from the heavy ego of some prog acts and instead turn to something which is middle of the road and still very enjoyable and pleasant on the ears. This style of progressive rock may be too simplistic for some, but I confess I think this has some really good songs, especially when they turn it up and increase the tempo on the likes of “I’ll Remember This” as that is a power pop/prog rocker which should be released as a single and aimed at the charts!
Lunear continue to delight and surprise, and I wonder what the next album will bring. This is an album where the listener can just have fun and not contort their ears into knots attempting to understand what is going on.
