Short Reviews [Alan Charles - 2023 - "Lust & Passion / Lost in Passion"]

I first came across Alan Charles and his excellent band Existence some 20+ years ago with their wonderful album, ‘Small People, Short Story, Little Crime’. It is safe to say he has not been the most prolific since then, but I have reviewed both a further Existence album and a solo release (which was in French). This time around he decided he was going to record everything himself, and also produce a concept album which covers a very difficult topic indeed, about exploring the norms of love and sex and what can happen when a couple decide to add another man to the mix. Apart from the female vocals (provided by Kim Gosselin) and the artwork on the front cover (Virginie Menard), everything else is by Alan, including the drawings that accompany the lyrics. The cover art leaves nothing to the imagination, on Bandcamp it is almost totally censored. This will automatically ensure many people will pass this album by, while the subject matter itself is something which will be uncomfortable for most people. I am not a prude, but I also found this initially quite disconcerting as this is not a porn flick for the ears but instead is attempting to deal sympathetically with a situation where people may imagine one thing going in, but find it is actually something quite different and much harder to deal with than they imagined. Given the complexity and thoughtfulness of the storyline and lyrics it is not surprising that the music has also been developed and arranged in a way which is highly structured with many layers. I cannot imagine how many hundreds of hours Alan must have spent in the studio working on this on his own, as just the orchestral sections alone are immense. In some ways this is quite Floydian, yet there is also a warmth and gravelly approach which provides more realistic overtones so that the subject matter stays very much grounded and feels very real indeed. The more this is listened to the more there is to discover, with a wonderful use of contrasts and styles, which provide emphasis when the time is right. If there is a need for strident electric guitar then it is there, or piano, or massed strings, while the music is always taking us on to the next level. This is progressive rock in so many ways, but lyrically so far out of the mainstream that it will undoubtedly be shunned by many, and that is their loss as musically this is wonderfully complicated and well-deserving of being discovered.