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Laughing Stock — Zero, Acts 3 & 4
(Apollon Records ARP057, 2022, CD / LP / DL)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2022-05-09

Zero, Acts 3 & 4 Cover art

As the follow-up to last year’s Zero, Acts 1 & 2, Laughing Stock just released the conclusion to their rock opera, Zero, Acts 3 & 4. Now our intrepid hero, Zero, is on his own as a young adult, and the new album relates what happens to him. Laughing Stock’s influences on Zero come from The Who’s Tommy, Supertramp’s Crime of the Century, and Pink Floyd’s The Wall, though subtle. This final chapter is musically a more varied album than its predecessor, incorporating pleasant prog jazz, soaring guitar passages, emotive symphonic prog, and melancholic introspective textures. I am reminded of Tommy on “Free” and of The Wall on “Lifeboat,” with the sounds of surging surf and whispered “wake up” and on “Running Faster” with the doubled lead guitar lines. Singer songwriter Samantha Preis returns as Zero’s mother, Swedish musician Nad Sylvan (Genesis Revisited) joins the mix as Zero’s psychiatrist, and Solstice’s guitarist Andy Glass trades some fiery guitar lines with Laughing Stock's Jan Mikael Sørensen. The majority of the songs are in the two-to-five-minute range, with their opus “Mother” clocking in just over ten minutes. And to hear “Mother” is worth the price of the album, with is strong composition and orchestration. A worthy addition to Laughing Stock’s discography that proves that they are anything but a laughing stock!

Filed under: New releases, 2022 releases

Related artist(s): Laughing Stock

More info
http://laughingstock1.bandcamp.com/album/zero-acts-3-4-2

 

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