Lonely Robot
Under Stars

That’s such a curious thought… the words from the intro scene of the previous album by Lonely Robot that ends with those words kind of puts the finger on something, and it brilliantly set the mood for The Big Sleep in 2017. The intro on this album is more of a meh, kind of a nothingness or something a little bit worrying for a big fan, the previous two albums had better intros. But there is of course more to Mitchell’s trilogy about the astronaut protagonist under the Lonely Robot moniker and I think the first one should have hit the progressive world with a bang smashing most of it to pieces and the sequels should have cemented Mitchells positing as one of the brightest shining stars of the genre.

With Under Stars he concludes his trilogy and he does it in a way that should make him #proud with a story about how this astronaut watches the younglings and their obsession with the social media, and how it obscure their knowledge of what happens around them as they live in their own bubbles. Something that Mitchell claims frightens him. I don’t really like social media but what I always worry about when albums that I have been looking forward to arrives is that they should be poor and disappointing but considering what Mitchell has given us these past few years the chance of that seemed quite insignificant, nevertheless the intro was worrying.

Under Stars is a musical adventure that is similar to the previous two, you can fit them together in the same kind of story but there are differences and novelty in each part and this one has quite a good deal of novelty. Eighties synthpop influences are quite numerous and there are many other things that spice up the show in an album with excellent production, the sound is probably the finest so far by the robot. Mitchell again sings brilliantly with emotion and passion, his guitars are again excellent as well and he shows once more that he is one of very few artists that can make guitar solos that feels like they are actually a welcome part of the song – most musicians fail in this. I think Blundell’s drums are also worthy of a mention and Steve Vantis does bass on five tracks.

Like before we are treated to an adventure with strong variation, good depth and a very strong emotional resonance. We revisit the chorus of Lonely Robot in another guise, this time in the ending track An Ending. “Please come home lonely robot, your heart is beautiful…” and so on is a welcome feat on all three albums and this time it is used to end it all in a fitting way. But we get many strong tracks that both feel fresh and familiar and I can’t help but being rather impressed by what Mitchell has put together with the three albums under the Lonely Robot moniker and this ends the show in a great way and if the astronaut now goes to sleep and never wakes up – that’s such a curious thought.

I don’t know if I would say that it is the best of the trilogy as all the albums are quite wonderful and I don’t think one of them stands above the others, but I do think that it is great and it probably has no weakness. The Lonely Robot chorus is a good and memorable addition to the album and the finest song is How Bright is the Sun? Which is probably the most Lonely Roboty song on the album, kind of giving continuity to the trilogy with some musical magic hidden behind a simple question to which the answer is very. And you really need sunglasses not just because of how bright the sun is but also to shield yourself from the glow of Mitchell’s musical brilliance that has given us this brilliant trilogy of albums that ends with Under Stars. So please come home, lonely robot, your heart is beautiful, programmed to receive. We miss you now, lonely robot, your heart is beautiful…

HHHHHHH