Robert Fleischman - Emotional Atlas
Emotional Atlas, the seventh solo album from Robert Fleischman, is also the first new music from the singer since 2014’s Majestic, the second and last album from Fleischman fronted rock outfit The SKY (a band that deserved far more attention than they got for their excellent brace of albums).
It can also be heard as the audio counterpart to the visual medium the multi-disciplined artist has focussed on these last six years or so – his painting, which includes collages, large abstract work and exhibitions.
Emotional Atlas is also well named, mapping out as it does a difficult and emotional period for Robert Fleischman, who sadly lost his wife, after her long battle with cancer, in 2020.
Finding solace in his passion for art, he has now returned to music via an ambient, at times abstract (thus paralleling his visual art) and highly textural work of ten tracks that are not so much songs as sonic sculptures.
The delicate, atmospheric opening of 'Side By Side' sets up the most poignant piece on the album, with Fleischman opening his lyrical heart ("we could stay forever, or maybe to the morning light… we could take this moment, take it for another ride").
The introduction of an electro rhythm then supports the ongoing "together forever" lyricism before vocally and musically building to an echoing, and powerfully melancholic, "side by side" conclusion.
The darker and percussive 'House On Fire' is internal turmoil meets suspense thriller ambience writ large, bolstered by a lyric that’s delivered with some conviction ("you’re the fuel on the fire, let the flames get higher!").
The eight minute 'Comfortably In My Skin' is a pulsating, at times shimmering, cry to be just what the title looks to, and hopes for. The song’s light and shade, along with the harmonic shifts, make for one of the most abstract, and best songs, Robert Fleischman has ever written.
'Name Of The Game' is a great slice of percussive synth-pop (with some tasty little bass lines) that recalls mid-era/ radio friendly Peter Gabriel (no bad thing). Another highlight.
'Great Lake View' is a homage to the beautiful shores of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin where Robert Fleischman resides, and his shoreline memories ("she is reading on the shore, on her shoulders the Wisconsin sun"). The true beauty of this soft and subtle piece however is it can be wistfully melancholic or delightfully uplifting, depending upon the listener's approach, or mood.
The ambient synth-pop of 'The Spark' offers up an uplifting number in search of love and light ("everyone’s waiting for the spark… to take them out of the dark").
The poppiest number on the album, there is no questioning its infectious charm.
The structured, marching synth-rhythm and far-east keyboard tinkles of 'Emotional Walls' support a lyric that plays as another cathartic outlet for Robert Fleischman ("sifting through my wreckage of bittersweet memories… some are good, some are bad... emotional walls").
Following number 'Pretty Butterfly' is fairly staid in its mid-tempo, pulse-beat arrangement but, like 'Emotional Walls' before it, that allows Fleischman’s vocal and reflective, yearning lyric to take centre stage ("let the wind take you back into my life, I want you by my side… pretty butterfly").
'Gravity' is a more abstract, soundscape piece built on harmonics, synth textures, piano and a lyric that, again, carries affecting melancholy ("I fall for you, every time… feel the gravity").
The album ends on electro-rock number 'Electric Rome,' an impressive, up-tempo synth-heavy number that lyrically decries media, technology and political control. Yet another highlight.
In 2004 Robert Fleischman experimented with keyboard/ synth based music (ambient instrumental album Electric Raindrops and techno influenced Kinetic Phenomena).
Twenty years on however, Emotional Atlas realises his full potential in the world of ambient/ synth pad/ drone music.
A highly creative work and the most adventurous album Robert Fleischman has ever released, Emotional Atlas is an hour of sonic ambience that can be both therapeutic and cathartic for the listener and, one suspects/ hopes, for the artist himself.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
For autographed copies of Emotional Atlas, head to:
CD: https://www.robertfleischman.com/product-page/copy-of-emotional-atlas-autographed-cd
Coloured Vinyl: https://www.robertfleischman.com/product-page/emotional-atlas-autographed-180g-limited-edition-colored-vinyl
It can also be heard as the audio counterpart to the visual medium the multi-disciplined artist has focussed on these last six years or so – his painting, which includes collages, large abstract work and exhibitions.
Emotional Atlas is also well named, mapping out as it does a difficult and emotional period for Robert Fleischman, who sadly lost his wife, after her long battle with cancer, in 2020.
Finding solace in his passion for art, he has now returned to music via an ambient, at times abstract (thus paralleling his visual art) and highly textural work of ten tracks that are not so much songs as sonic sculptures.
The delicate, atmospheric opening of 'Side By Side' sets up the most poignant piece on the album, with Fleischman opening his lyrical heart ("we could stay forever, or maybe to the morning light… we could take this moment, take it for another ride").
The introduction of an electro rhythm then supports the ongoing "together forever" lyricism before vocally and musically building to an echoing, and powerfully melancholic, "side by side" conclusion.
The darker and percussive 'House On Fire' is internal turmoil meets suspense thriller ambience writ large, bolstered by a lyric that’s delivered with some conviction ("you’re the fuel on the fire, let the flames get higher!").
The eight minute 'Comfortably In My Skin' is a pulsating, at times shimmering, cry to be just what the title looks to, and hopes for. The song’s light and shade, along with the harmonic shifts, make for one of the most abstract, and best songs, Robert Fleischman has ever written.
'Name Of The Game' is a great slice of percussive synth-pop (with some tasty little bass lines) that recalls mid-era/ radio friendly Peter Gabriel (no bad thing). Another highlight.
'Great Lake View' is a homage to the beautiful shores of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin where Robert Fleischman resides, and his shoreline memories ("she is reading on the shore, on her shoulders the Wisconsin sun"). The true beauty of this soft and subtle piece however is it can be wistfully melancholic or delightfully uplifting, depending upon the listener's approach, or mood.
The ambient synth-pop of 'The Spark' offers up an uplifting number in search of love and light ("everyone’s waiting for the spark… to take them out of the dark").
The poppiest number on the album, there is no questioning its infectious charm.
The structured, marching synth-rhythm and far-east keyboard tinkles of 'Emotional Walls' support a lyric that plays as another cathartic outlet for Robert Fleischman ("sifting through my wreckage of bittersweet memories… some are good, some are bad... emotional walls").
Following number 'Pretty Butterfly' is fairly staid in its mid-tempo, pulse-beat arrangement but, like 'Emotional Walls' before it, that allows Fleischman’s vocal and reflective, yearning lyric to take centre stage ("let the wind take you back into my life, I want you by my side… pretty butterfly").
'Gravity' is a more abstract, soundscape piece built on harmonics, synth textures, piano and a lyric that, again, carries affecting melancholy ("I fall for you, every time… feel the gravity").
The album ends on electro-rock number 'Electric Rome,' an impressive, up-tempo synth-heavy number that lyrically decries media, technology and political control. Yet another highlight.
In 2004 Robert Fleischman experimented with keyboard/ synth based music (ambient instrumental album Electric Raindrops and techno influenced Kinetic Phenomena).
Twenty years on however, Emotional Atlas realises his full potential in the world of ambient/ synth pad/ drone music.
A highly creative work and the most adventurous album Robert Fleischman has ever released, Emotional Atlas is an hour of sonic ambience that can be both therapeutic and cathartic for the listener and, one suspects/ hopes, for the artist himself.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
For autographed copies of Emotional Atlas, head to:
CD: https://www.robertfleischman.com/product-page/copy-of-emotional-atlas-autographed-cd
Coloured Vinyl: https://www.robertfleischman.com/product-page/emotional-atlas-autographed-180g-limited-edition-colored-vinyl