ALBUM REVIEW: Lunar Mist – Virgil & Steve Howe
It’s been five years since multi-instrumentalist Virgil Howe (AMORPHOUS ANDROGYNOUS, LITTLE BARRIE) suddenly passed away, and five years since his father Steve Howe posthumously released their collaborative album, Nexus.
Designed as a collection of Virgil’s piano sketches fleshed out by Steve’s guitar mastery, and further enhanced by Virgil’s production skill, the instrumental set showcased their symbiotic father-son relationship, like couples finishing each other’s sentences. Its follow-up Lunar Mist is Virgil’s audible sketchbook made public, Frankenstein-esque experiments finished by his father in loving tribute. Whilst Lunar Mist treads a similar path to Nexus in that it swaps the outer limits of space for the sunny coasts and seashores of Southern England and back between every track, it stands alone as testament to the visionary mind Virgil possessed.
Listening to the titular opener, the leftover trimmings of Nexus‘ turkey dinner, is like riding a comet of cosmic funk via a synthy soundscape not a million miles away from making it onto the Tron soundtrack. But space is not the final frontier here, More Than You Know’s Spanish guitars offer a light-rendering radiance that transports you to Balearic cafes, before Plexus plops you somewhere between the free-flowing fields of 70s prog and a late-night hotel lounge.
At first you might feel like Lunar Mist is a disjointed journey through unfinished scraps, but allow yourself a moment to immerse yourself and you’ll find yourself travelling through the lobes of Virgil’s brain. If Steve has achieved anything here, it’s in offering listeners an anatomy of his son’s mind, helping shape entire worlds out of the simplest sounds – Free Spirit is concert hall piano sent into the stratosphere, Dirama is a dual of fates between Virgil’s free jazz drumming and an ever-expanding, never-ending story of guitar solos and synths, and closer Martian Mood is the soundtrack to an 80s sci-fi classic that never got made.
Whereas Nexus was an album misplaced in melancholy, masked by its maker’s departure to the great beyond, Lunar Mist often feels like a glimpse into his life in the astral plains. Whether it’s traversing galaxies far, far away or staying closer to home, you get the sense that Steve has become ever closer to his son, cementing a love that goes beyond the very medium of music and lyrics.
Lunar Mist, like Nexus before it, is a loving tribute and telling testament to the symbiotic nature the father-son duo of Virgil and Steve Howe have always possessed, even five years after the former’s passing.
Rating: 8/10
Lunar Mist is set for release on September 23rd via InsideOut Music.
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