The brainchild of English musician John Mitchell, Lonely Robot is basically a solo project consisting of a reported three album story arc. Very similar to Tony Carey in the 1980s recording as Planet P Project, Mitchell sings and plays the vast majority of the instruments that make up Lonely Robot. The Big Dream is the second of the albums and continues that story that began on Please Come Home. 

The music is very atmospheric.  This is not your traditional piano/keyboard guitar plucking music.  Each instrument is layered to continue the story, which on this album is centered around the idea of death. The music is expertly written , but it’s not something you’ll find yourself humming later in the day. In that sense it’s more Progressive Rock (neo-progressive possibly) than basic rock music.

I first heard Mitchell’s vocals when he sang lead on Kino’s Picture album, although I had heard him play guitar for years as a member of UK rock group Arena.  While not a great range, it’s hard to not hear the emotion that he sings with. His talent on guitar and even piano is astonishing.

The album starts out with a spoken word intro that outlines the idea of The Big Dream and what would it be like to just not wake up.  Reading through the lyrics I’m not entirely certain what happens during the course of the album, but towards the end our friend the Robot from Please Come Home makes his appearance with the main character the Astronaut.

Best tracks include ‘The Divine Art Of Being’ and ‘Symbolic’, showcasing Mitchell’s outstanding guitar playing as well as Craig Blundell’s drums.

The Big Dream as a whole isn’t as melodic as its predecessor and for that I took off half a star, but it’s still definitely worth checking out if you like your music to challenge you and have more than lyrics about love and relationships.

website: http://johnmitchellhq.com