The Cassini Project
Blue Ocean Event

It shouldn’t be too difficult to guess what kind of music that is on offer when The Cassini Project is up for review. It is a project of Alex McDonnell who wanted to make music without limitations and experiment with different kinds of genres. The debut album is called Blue Ocean Event and was released some time ago but is now remastered and reissued. I probably would have remastered the cover to something more exciting as the cover this album has is rather ugly – so what about the music?

Progressive rock is probably a good description of what to expect here, I think of a band like Porcupine Tree as there are similarities in how the songs are structured and things like that. It is quite a dynamic sound from soft to quite heavy stuff, good vocals and good production. The variation is good, in the songs and through the album. Still, despite the variation it is a long album with a playing time well surpassing the hour – that is too much for almost every band, The Cassini Project is not an exception to this rule.

It is a good album, it has magic moments, brilliant moments and lots to like. But like previously mentioned Porcupine Tree it is a mixture of that greatness with utter boredom. The thing when you freely experiment through genres etc. is that you sometimes make things that doesn’t work, and it is easy to miss that as a creator as you see the effort and the ideas behind – the audience doesn’t, that is why some great creators know to kill their darlings. And when making music less is often more, the ideal length is between about half an hour to about three quarters of an hour – any longer or shorter is less ideal. It is about keeping the attention of a listener, but also the space to showcase your qualities as a writer and musician. This is too much of the latter, and too little of the former.

In the end I find this album to be good, it could have been great but excessive instrumental masturbation and playing time ruins it. Had they cut down on those it could have been something impressive as I find that I would easily be able to cut away at least 25 minutes of the album without taking anything away from it – that is because it is filled with a lot of meaningless drivel. A shorter effort with more focus on the great harmonies between guitars and vocals could be a strong starting point for an upcoming album. I just wonder why he didn’t trim away some of the excesses when remastering the album.

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