Exit Zero By Michael Regina

 

Exit Zero

By

Michael Regina

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

Here is an album that recently made me stop in my tracks and listen intently; the release is Exit Zero, the artist Michael Regina, and the next 5 tracks combined electronic styled opuses from a multitude of genres, which would draw such an emotive and poignant musical narrative.

The opening piece, Cape Sunrise, I have now played several times, and it’s a true scene setter of a track, ocean sounds bring in a soft gentle synth energy, but it’s one that builds with an energetic intent, the syncopation of percussive elements abound as we move onward, as we are gifted a vibrant opening piece to the album, one that illustrates a new beach sunrise perfectly.

Day at the Beach gives us soft sea sounds, gulls flying on the height of an expectant morsel of food, and a track that is as easy to listen to as a tasty bowl of ice cream is to eat. The fluent keyboards of Regina are a blissful thing to feel here, and remind me of lazy summer afternoons on the sands of the past. The electronic piano was adorable and has been a personal favourite of mine to utilise as a musician, the charm and chilled vibe of this offering made it for me one of my personal favourites.

We now move to The Migration, track 3 from the release. There were energies of the 80’s within this piece which were well arranged, especially within the dynamic of an electronic composition, which flowed from days of David Wright into a more melodic pop style ballad, the arrangement was also a clever one, a slight emphasis of a minor mode and wonderfully crafted element of movement can all be found in this creation.

The curiously entitled Haunted Victorian is our penultimate piece, and as my last single was also from this theme it made me sit up and take notice, the ghostly vibe here was sublime and with the added percussion it reminded of Llewellyn’s Ghosts album from 1999. Regina has it down perfectly here, the haunting and dramatic keyboards manifest something very ethereal and utterly spooky, perhaps here lays music for a next Adams Family spin off!

Our last port of call is the chilled Starlight Drift; here is a warm and light last manifestation of music from the artist. The production and engineering of a piece like this is difficult, as balance on all fronts is the key word, but Michael has achieved that with great style, in what must be regarded as Regina’s fist bold steps into the chill-out genre, but what a soothing way with which to conclude the album.

Exit Zero by Michael Regina is a most pleasant album indeed; it is also multi-faceted, bringing the listener various styles and crossing varied genres as it goes. For me this also a was a clever release, here Regina can draw in fans from electronic, synth pop, chill-out and contemporary instrumental music with this release, as Exit Zero by Michael Regina could very well be regarded as some of Regina’s most explorative work thus far.