Arjen Lucassen
by Alissa Ordabai
Staff Writer
Arjen Lucassen is known the world over for being one of the few musicians who faithfully and confidently bore the torch of prog-rock into the 21st century. But apart from leading his main band Ayreon, Lucassen has also always managed to remain an incessant generator of side projects. Over the years they have spanned styles from metal to electronica, but the most recent one called Guilt Machine is still a significant departure from anything Lucassen has ever been involved in before.
For a start, Guilt Machine’s debut album On this Perfect Day, released by Mascot this month, marks Lucassen’s emergence from a bleak period in his life, and hence, being a statement of personal renewal, attempts several new creative strategies. First off, apart from being full of finely wrought, yearning melodies, songs on this album also engage in complex, cryptic lyrical themes – something that Lucassen tries here for the first time, adding extra depth to the overall message.
The other first-time strategy was to try to make a record without any preconceived plan or even any expectations for that matter. During our interview Arjen tells me he plunged into work head-on, for the first time ever bringing his songwriting process into the studio as opposed to writing tunes at home. And the end result shows that this free-flowing approach bore some exquisite fruit.
Melodically and emotionally On This Perfect Day is a fantastically diverse album which nevertheless manages to remain cohesive, despite stretching over a wide span of moods and purposes that range from subtle charm of retro psychedelia to bombastic pathos of rock opera. What unites them is the trademark overcast mood which Lucassen is so good at creating and which resonates so poignantly throughout the record. Another unifying factor is bold yet detail-rich arrangements that add a dreamy, graceful gravity to the proceedings, and, finally, it is Lucassen’s distinct vision (eclectic yet focussed) which remains instantly recognisable no matter which project, genre, or style he chooses to work in.
The final nifty touch is given by voice samples mixed into each of those tracks – snippets of messages requested and received by Lucassen for this album from fans the world over. There is spooky elegance to how 19 different languages reverberate in synch with the overall vibe of the album, speaking of things that range from deeply personal sentiments to universal themes. Some would call it a gimmick, but those less cynical would recognise that it accentuates one of the cardinal messages of Lucassen’s new project: on the one hand – diversity and variety, and on the other – wholeness and unity. This, after all, has always been the key to his creative approach which strives to unite dissimilar things while at the same time keeping them coherent and in harmony with each other.