Vanaprastha by Armchair Gods

Brum Beat review - July 2022  Mike Davies Column

"If the phrase English Zen Rock conjures up enticing thoughts of majestic, chilled, meditative and pastoral music to calm and soothe the mind and spirit during these dark and troubled times, then you want to make a pilgrimage to the temple of the ARMCHAIR GODS.

Brummies born and bred with a friendship stretching back over many year, Paul Kearns and Steve Peckover have a collective musical career of playing in numerous bands based in and around the Midlands, among them Hela, touted as ones to watch back at the end of the 90s. Steve was a regular at the Ronnie Scott’s  Singer Songwriters festivals while, studying music at the Musicians Institute in London, Paul was a finalist in  the UK Guitarist Magazine of the year competition.

Today, however, they are Armchair Gods, a progressive rock instrumental duo with a full pantheon of sound drawing on such diverse influences as Kate Bush, Nick Drake, Heather Nova, Jonatha Brooke, IQ, Marillion guitarist Steve Rothery, PFM and, perhaps, most notably, The Enid. Not to mention a touch of Mozart, Rodrigo, and John Barry.

Their mission is to create extended, nuanced and multi-faceted musical compositions that will engage and immerse listeners in  its sonic tapestry, the first fruits of which are the debut album Vanaprastha, titled from a Sanskrit term derived from vana, meaning "forest" and prastha, meaning "going to", translated as  “retiring to the forest”,  one of the most important concepts in the Hindu religion, representing the third of the four ashramas, or  stages of human life.

Recorded using a repaired Dell Inspiron N5050 laptop, it’s loosely based on a symphonic arrangement with an exposition section of contrasting themes (Hero Ⅰ and Riverman Ⅰ) with a transition (The Waltz) a developmental section (The Hunt), a recapitulation section (Hero Ⅱ, Riverman Ⅱ) and a coda (The Gate) all flowing together as a seamless whole.

Each of the themes conveys different life experience/stages. Emerging from the early morning mist to embrace classical acoustic guitars amid the hypnotic swirl and disembodied voices, Hero Ⅰ represents finding the courage to step into the unknown for the very first time, an experience that can bring joy, but also a realisation of grief.

Announced with a fanfare flourish and floating on pastoral strings with a hint of Leonard Cohen to the guitar lines, Riverman Ⅰ marks a return to the familiar, finding comfort in going with the flow while The Waltz is a pulsing, woodwind flavoured piece representing being locked in step with toil but with the knowledge and hope that things will get better.

With its steady drum beat, nervy strings, keyboard trills and echoing distant electric guitar howls The Hunt, the first single, captures the sensation of fear and how to confront it, appropriately visited by a thunderstorm and the evocation choral voices mid-way, unfolding into the aftermath calm of Hero Ⅱ and an exultant Riverman Ⅱ before closing with The Gate, its David Gilmour tinted guitar wizardry and a state of acceptance, ready to move on to whatever the next state of the journey may be." - Mike Davies