It was in the summer of 2019 when we last got an album from Jones + Sky. At the time, I felt that they had reached a new plateau of sophistication and stylish verve. They had begun their pivot from Synthpop to Art Rock, and had even enlisted Jan Linton to add his fevered eBow harmonics to the mix. I said “no more Depeche Mode…JAPAN, more likely.” But I was wrong. In a year and a half marked by increasingly ambitious single releases, the duo have gone further afield from the now obviously transitional “Rotating Angels” project to experiment with an increasingly organic and holistic sound that places them closer to the Talk Talk side of the Art Rock spectrum.

Steven Jones + Logan Sky: European Lovers – UK – CD-R [2021]

1. European Lovers
2. Survival
3. When The Night Falls In
4. Sons of Hallucination
5. Awaken From The Dream
6. The Girl On The 8:45
7. Lovers + Losers
8. Cafe Europe
9. All Her Things Are Gone
10. Like A Ghost
11. Past + Future Lives
12. European Lovers [postscript]
13. The Shape Of Darkness
14. Another Hallucination
15. Politics + Gesture
16. Lovers + Losers [Extended Remix]
17. Lovers + Losers [Vandal Moon Mix]
18. Lovers + Losers [May Be Horizon Mix]

It began with the stunning title track, with piano and subtle synth harmonics that paved the way for the eloquent sax of Gary Barnacle to enter the mix. Choral patches and subtle bass throb enlivened the subtle mix as low key drum machine set the contemplative mood for Steven Jones to probe into the melancholy he was defining so adroitly. The coda where Jones’ backing expression vocals wove a delicate tapestry with the airy synths of Mr. Sky, but leaving room for the gorgeous sax to have the final word.

The subsequent “Survival” proved that the opening track was no fluke. Again, the piano led with backing support from the synths, but the mood built immediately here that supported the elegant emotional thrust of the album with a subtle guiding hand. This was music for adults, not sweaty teens on the dance floor [not that there’s anything wrong with that]. I loved the treatment of the backing vocals. With the key title phrase echoing forebodingly through the song’s space. Mr. Jones’ lyrics here proffered economical haikus of emotional devastation that stuck with the listener like napalm. Matching perfectly with his superb and measured vocal performance. There was no showboating. Every factor here had been pared back to only serve the essence of the song’s theme with the utmost in economy and skill.

Only you talk of revival

Take down the sky

Mortal souls aspire to survival

Orchids blossom

Orchids die

Survival

Just when we thought they had got the clubbing out of their system came “When The Night Falls In” to provide an outlier to their dark roots. The hissing synths and growling catlike bass had some subtle 808 added to give it an insistent propulsion even as the synth leads played their cards close to their vest. Jones’ delivery was at his insinuating best here as he worked in his voiceover mode. The grandeur of “Sons Of Hallucination” still managed to thrill, even now as it sat flawlessly in the setting that the album as a whole provided for this dark jewel of a song.

Logan Sky got a chance to add some instrumental magic with the appropriately named “Awaken From The Dream” and showed that he was venturing far from his synthwave roots now. The mood set here led almost imperceptibly to a song that has really stuck with me. “The Girl On The 8:45” is perhaps an outlier to their next destination. The vibe was almost like folk song on synthesizers. Steven Jones’ haunting falsetto BVs were endlessly echoing through the halls of the number as the brief track set an incomparably vivid mood. The lyrics were from the pen of Kevin O’Dowd, who they had co-wrote with on the last album, and he’s blending well with the core duo on these excursions.

The delicate sigh of melancholy that was “Lovers + Losers” was still weaving a captivating spell and was followed by a rare cover version in “Cafe Europe.” This one was a tune from Fatal Charm; a band that I’ve yet to hear but know of their reputation as one of the many intriguing Ultravox opening acts from back in the day. This track slotted into the whole of the album effortlessly, with a slight Moroder feel to the sequenced and delayed synth lines. I had to love hearing Metal Beat from a CR79 rhythm box in there as a rhythmic fillip. The sustain drenched falestto of Jones’ BVs was luxury I was getting used to hearing.

I really enjoyed the melodrama of “All Of Her Things Are Gone” as the song became stuck in my cranium for hours at a time. This one was mostly piano melodramatic stabs of orchestra; being the one point in the album where the band’s developmental Depeche Mode DNA still manifested in a very “Music For The Masses” way. But perhaps that was indicative of where their developmental curve was in that they no longer referenced the sound of “A Broken Frame” and had moved considerably upstream.

The penultimate track was the windswept melodrama of “Past + Future Lives” that viewed the doomed romance of the album theme through a karmic lens that I loved hearing Mr. Jones bring to the game. Such a late-period Roxy Music elegance here. As with many of the album tracks, it was led melodically with more piano and voice predominating. As suggested by several other songs, this time there was no there was no rhythm here at all for a breathless stillness, poised in a single moment in time.

Then the reprise of the title track as a spoken work atmospheric redux brought this perfect album to its conclusion. This was abetted by the sterling eBow stretching through time from guitarist Jan Linton. The organics that Linton and Barnacle brought to the album were pivotal in the shift of direction that the band are aiming at.

The joy of Steven Jones + Logan Sky is that they are growing together in synch with each other. Their ambitions posit them as peers to one another as they mutually up their respective games to dramatic new levels each time out. One thing that occurs to me as I listen to “European Lovers;” the recent notion I had of compiling a career best of would surely get uncomfortably close to the wide continuum of an album like Talk Talk’s “Natural History.”

Their earliest synth bangers would be barely recognizable as the same duo who have released this album which beckons me to hear it immediately again; even as the 12 track album [already a healthy but svelte-sounding 47 minutes] will be fully decked out with the B-sides and remixes from the two pre-release singles in its 75 minute CD-R edition of 200. The full program is what I’ve been listening to and it’s the furthest thing from a slog! What is surely one of the best albums of the year [currently my #1, actually] for a mere £4.00 at Bandcamp is ridiculously underpriced, but I recommend the CD-R hard copy with an extra six tracks [only £8.00] and it can be yours too if you hit that button below. Just do it quickly. All of their earlier CD-Rs are sold out

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