Lonely Robot
Please Come Home

This album has everything, I mean a band name like Lonely Robot – just a thing like that. A title like Please Come Home – just a thing like that. And a thing like the cover as well as it being John Mitchell writing the songs and handling the knobs. It is an album that beforehand looks like one that has everything, a brilliant name, cover and artist creating it – a clear success. Thing is though that you can have the recipe for success but still turn out a fiasco, so I take nothing for granted but recalling the previous works of Mitchell I don’t believe he will turn this Lonely Robot into a mockery.

Please Come Home is the debut of this moniker and Mitchell states that it is the most fun he has ever had in the studio, but also that it is a concept album where the general theme seem to be referring to the human condition. He has always been a clever man this Mitchell fellow and I recall the work It Bites released three years ago, it was a brilliant conceptual album centred around a photograph. This album reminds me about that said album but in a different way, like an evolvement and metamorphosis of that album. Progressive in atmosphere rather than in complex structures and time signatures, the story is a bit sci-fi but quite down to earth still. Mitchell’s voice is great as it usually is and the production is fantastic, I think you will be hard pressed to find an album with a soundscape that rivals this one. It is clearly a production of the highest quality and I think I’d be able to count the albums I have heard with a production that equals this one.

Just short of the hour mark is this album, it has spectacular variation and coherency, the story told is captivating but doesn’t steal any attention from the music itself. As fun as Mitchell had in the studio, as fun is it to enjoy this brilliant album and I can assure you that this will be true for anyone listening to it. I can recommend it to anyone who reads the Hallowed webzine. The reason this album falls short of the highest mark is the fact that so much of it can be traced back to Map of the Past, several tracks remind me highly of tracks of that album which makes the novelty take a slight dent. But I think he has perfected his craft very well the good Mitchell; however, this album could have taken a slightly more novel approach but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it is the best album in a very long time and one that I have actually ordered the vinyl version of – something I almost never do with any album I review.

This album really has everything, songs that are fast, slow, powerful, meek, dark, light, exciting, simple and all in between those things. I think that this album really showcases the brilliance of John Mitchell, it also showcase a great and exciting story written by that brilliant man. But he was not alone performing; there are prominent guests, probably most notable on vocals where Heather Findley especially impresses me. I think he has outdone himself with this album as this is the best album I have ever heard where Mitchell is taking part and one of the best I have ever reviewed for Hallowed, fans of Mitchell will definitely enjoy this and those who are not yet fans of Mitchell will also enjoy this album and realise that they are fans of Mitchell.

There are a number of excellent tracks on this album, an hour of them to be exact. There are however a few that stands out a little extra for me, like the second track God vs Man which is an excellent powerful track that is included in the video for this review. I also like the more speedy Construct/Obstruct which is catchy as hell. Then we have the title track (of the band) that is very good and memorable. But best of all is Why Do We Stay where previously mentioned Findley sings a part, it is a calm and wonderful tracks that reminds me a bit of Clocks from Map of the Past but in a much fancier suit. Yeah, I am very impressed and enjoy this album very much. I think each one of us on this pale blue dot in the vastness of space will really enjoy this album, all I can say is Please Come Home – to my newly pre-ordered 2-LP version of this album.

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