ESP is a light disguise for Tony Lowe and Mark Brzezicki, and while the latter may be more familiar from Big Country, Lowe enjoys credentials as guitarist/producer for names such as Roger Daltrey, Julian Lennon and David Cross.
From the first moments of Overture it’s apparent that we’re dealing with quality, with punchy drums, the strains of analogue synths, woodwind courtesy of VdGG’s David Jackson (who appears beside John Young, Steve Gee and more here), and guitar interwoven in a bold, expansive statement of intent. Stylistically, this is solid classic/symphonic prog, with parallels to Transatlantic, The Tangent and Camel perhaps, but with recurring overtly Floydian moments on tracks such as Through The Dream and Where Is My Home. In the world of prog, an album about a serious childhood illness, astral planes and ghostly female figures, isn’t likely to be direct or concise, and there are points where things seems to take time to get going. But should we interpret tracks like Song From A Waking Dream and the first half of Searching The Banks For A Memory as “meandering” or simply effective storytelling? As a new force on the British symphonic prog block, Invisible Din is as good an opening salvo as you’re likely to get.
