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Twenty Four Hours — Close - Lamb - White - Walls
(Musea Velut Luna, 2018, CD)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2018-12-28

Close - Lamb - White - Walls Cover art

Close - Lamb - White - Walls is the sixth album by Italian prog band Twenty Four Hours. This is not a concept album, but instead a collection of songs inspired by the bands who released the four most influential “white” albums over the past 50 years: The Beatles’ White album, Joy Division’s Closer, Genesis’ The Lamb Lies down on Broadway, and Pink Floyd’s The Wall. In addition, Twenty Four Hours is joined by Tuxedomoon’s Blaine Reininger (violin) and Steven Brown (sax) on two tracks: “Intertwined” and “All the World Needs Is Love.” Plus to cement this transatlantic relationship, there are two versions of Tuxedomoon’s “What Use.” This double album contains 12 songs exhibiting various influences, but I am hard pressed to identify anything remotely resembling either The Beatles or Joy Division. However Pink Floyd and Genesis influences are in abundance! The opening track, “77,” is an aggressive prog rock tune with heavy chords and a climax that moves from guitar to synths to drums to organ. “Broken Song” is a tasty slab of prog rock reminiscent of Camel and post-Waters Pink Floyd. “Embryo” is a dreamy Pink Floyd-inspired tune that recalls The Wall and it seques into “What Use.” “All the World Needs Is Love” is a beautiful ballad enhanced by the presence of vocalist Elena Alethia Lippe, with Steven Brown’s excellent smooth sax closing the song. “Intertwined” is a sad and mournful tune that is primarily Reininger’s exquisite violin soloing layered over a poetic narrative and the memorable line “Beyond the event horizon, what will become of me?” Another Floydian tune follows, “Urban Sinkhole,” that once again shows some influence from Roger Waters and The Wall. Moving to disc two, the opener is the excellent “Adrian,“ the video single from the album and the first solely Genesis-influenced track. Next is “Supper’s Rotten,” the obvious reference to Genesis’ “Supper’s Ready.” “Supper’s Rotten,” like its reference, tells a story of sorts that moves through many different moods and melodies over its 15 minutes. “The Tale of the Holy Frog” sees Elena return, this time with some narration set against the song’s hard edge. Then death, “She’s Our Sister,” a quiet slow tune and narrative follows. And the album closes with “What Use - Acoustic” that does not sound unplugged to me at all. But that is a nit that does not deter at all from enjoying this outstanding release.

Filed under: New releases, 2018 releases

Related artist(s): Twenty Four Hours

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