Lonely Robot
The Big Dream

“Please come home, lonely robot, your heart is beautiful, programmed to receive - We miss you now, lonely robot…” that is what us fans have felt during the two year wait and what we hear narrated in a part of this new album’s epic title track. And it is of course a part of the first album’s title track that we get repeated here. And that is not all that we get repeated as this album is in many regards very similar to its predecessor, but if you are to copy there are plenty of worse albums to copy. It is however strange as Mitchell himself claims not to be tied down by what he have done before, but that is what it sounds like. And looking at what Mitchell has done in the past it is hard to disregard the fact that it sounds a certain way and he often repeats his songs in different iterations.

We recognise the music as Lonely Robot, a meaner writer would claim that it sounds exactly like the first album and when hearing the combination of an atmospheric opening track and a powerful following track it is a sense of déjà vu that comes over me. On the subject of that prologue, it is a great atmospheric piece that brings science fiction to mind and the narration in that track is fairly interesting as well. The production is excellent and we can describe this album as progressive pop rock with strong variation and a bit of a sci-fi atmosphere, less of a space adventure feel than the predecessor though and it is also a little bit shorter. Mitchell sings really good as usual and the narration that we hear on parts of the album is really good as well. And though it is very similar to its predecessor I think that this album is better a step forward.

Like the narrator I have often been thinking about what would happen if I go to sleep and never wake up, you know you have an inkling of how that is when you sleep. If you slept a dreamless night you will wake up from nothing, but what if you never woke up? That’s a curious thought. I guess the idea comes from the idea of cryogenic sleep, which is a way to conquer the long distances of space in much science fiction. So in the second part of the trilogy about the astronaut protagonist in Mitchell’s Lonely Robot story wakes up seeing some humans with animal heads staring at him. That is another curious thought. This story is more down to earth than the previous one and happens more in the mind of the astronaut than what was the case with the predecessor. And now that I have heard this second part I cannot wait for the third one because this album is just brilliant.

I think that the only thing preventing this album from reaching the absolute top of our rating is that it feels a bit predictable. Mitchell has done all this before and he isn’t exactly breaking much new ground here, that was a slight disappointment for me to begin with but the album grows and in the end I have to say that this one right now claims the top spot when it comes to albums of the year. But Ayreon releases a new album on the same day so that top spot could be short lived but until I have heard that album a bit more than just the first time this one rules. And it does so despite not having as great hit songs as its predecessor, it is the fullness of the story that makes it so great. And it is told with such confidence and feel that you can’t help being floored by it. The Big Dream is simply brilliant from the prologue to the epilogue and you should not miss it.

HHHHHHH