Band:	Major Parkinson
Album:	Twilight Cinema
Style:	Progressive rock
Release date:	January 24, 2014
A review by:	Ivor

01. Skeleton Sangria
02. Impermanence
03. Black River
04. The Wheelbarrow
05. A Cabin In The Sky
06. Heart Machine
07. Beaks Of Benevola
08. Twilight Cinema

As curious as it is, one of my favourite albums this year was released quite early at the beginning of the year. This stellar album blew me away when I first heard it and it has continued to amaze me throughout the year. I might even say, Twilight Cinema has already stood the test of time. It has definitely survived the initial round of childish excitement. Most importantly, however, each time I listen to it I'm still awed by the detailed theatrical expressiveness and beauty of this album.

Twilight Cinema defies categorisation. You can call it progressive rock, you can call it avantgarde, or cabaret, a musical, or even a theatrical play. It doesn't really matter because it really is irrelevant what you call it. You just have to listen to what it is. It's a storm, a maelstrom, a tornado of musical ideas brought to life through a sonic experience... It's an album that lives and grows as it progresses through the music and time, both as an immediate listening experience as well as long-term over repeated listens. It can turn a new facet, show a new side, and peel another layer for you every time you turn to it. It's a never-ending bag of puzzle pieces.

Starting out quietly with an acoustic guitar and Jon Ivar Kollbotn's hushed singing, then playfully waltzing through the beautiful string melodies, it will grab you right from the beginning, slowly building up and strengthening its grasp as it goes along. It grows in beauty and expression, power and delivery, darkness and craziness with each subsequent song, really bursting to life in all its magnificence on the "Black River." From then on it just keeps gathering grandeur and momentum until the very end of the title track.

This album needs space and power to really come alive. Throw at it the best speakers and amps that you possibly can. Play it loud. Let it wash over you in all its glorious details for production is very bang on for an album this intricate. Experience all the nuances of Jon Ivar Kollbotn's and Annette Kathinka Servan's vocals, listen how all the instruments interplay with each other, hear all the clicks and sounds hiding in every moment, let the stomping power of guitars, bass and drums trample you, and let the atmosphere wash over you. Hear how this album plays with stereo image, at one time fading into the centre stage, at another assaulting you from left, right, above, and around you, then pulling back again.

There is no reasonable way to put this album into words. It's beyond mere words. Let it shine and it will transcend a simple listening session into an Experience powering the imagination. There are albums that are good, and there are albums that are great. An album like Twilight Cinema really comes along only once in a while making a profound and lasting impression. I know I've found a new exciting companion to go with me through life.