When Steven Jones and Logan Sky team up for an album, this Monk always cocks his ear to see if they can keep pushing out the boundaries of their sonic art and like every album I’ve heard from them in the last eight years from the duo, they continue to maintain the delicate dance between refinement and advancement. Their upcoming album, “Sacred Figures,” is no different from all of the others in that it astonishes upon first listen with the palpable measure of its achievements; and yet in another 14 months we’ll probably have their new release in hand and ask yet again, how can they top this, as they manage to do just that.

Steve Jones + Logan Sky: Sacred Figures – UK – CD-R/DL [2023]

1. Come Back Tonight 4:42
2. This Silence, Our Tragedy 5:40
3. Thalia’s Room 2:47
4. Sacred Figures 3:46
5. Into Dust 3:23
6. Kabbalistic 5:44
7. This Intensity 4:00
8. Burn It Down 6:22
9. Opium No.17 3:39
10. Dharma Wanderers 4:17
11. Radiation 4:13
12. Burnt Embers 1:52
13. Come Back Tonight (Extended Remix) 5:48
14. Sacred Figures (May Be Horizon Intense Extense) 5:32
15. This Intensity (Extended Remix – CD only) 5:28

When Steven Jones and Logan Sky team up for an album, this Monk always cocks his ear to see if they can keep pushing out the boundaries of their sonic art and like every album I’ve heard from them in the last eight years from the duo, they continue to maintain the delicate dance between refinement and advancement. Their upcoming album, “Sacred Figures,” is no different from all of the others in that it astonishes upon first listen with the palpable measure of its achievements; and yet in another 14 months we’ll probably have their new release in hand and ask yet again, how can they top this, as they manage to do just that.

The luxuriantly sustained guitar of Jan Linton let us know immediately up front that the lessons learned on their last, excellent album, “European Lovers,” have not been forgotten. Lush synth pulse and portentous piano chording ushered us into the corridors of sound that were, at this point, whispering their siren call into our ears. On first listen, I was getting gooseflesh and we were only less than half a minute into the album. Then the intro faded and a regimented synth loop advanced to the forefront along with rhythmic handclaps and some deep bass support. This song played out for almost half its length before vocalist Steven Jones arrived onto the scene. Doubling his vocals on the song’s chorus while Linton’s hint of distorted guitar lent its sting to the song’s sentiments of hurt and abandonment. Letting it have the last word in the song’s delicate coda.

We were already one song into “Sacred Figures,” and already I was anticipating a powerful statement from Jones + Sky. The jaunty synth melody of “This Silence/Our Tragedy,” produced a deceptive air of jollity before the minor key patches arrived to curdle the mood. Deft bass synths headed Mr. Jones in his insinuating voice over modality; offering persuasive sentiments on the song’s subject. The melancholy of the chorus couched Mr. Sky’s sustained organ patch in its velvety embrace as Jones managed to croon the lyric while offering spoken word counterpoint alongside his main vocal. Clave rhythms for the second verse added the slightest touch of heat to the dispassionate, fatalistic vibe. White noise rhythmic patches threatened to take this song off the rails until saxophonist Gary Barnacle soothed out fevered brows with a redemptive tenor solo that faded to nothingness in the climax.

The somber, rhythm-free chords of “Thalia’s Room” accompanied the smoldering vocals of Mr. Jones building a mood of melancholic eroticism over the course of nearly three minutes which felt more like one. Followed by the title track weaving its entrancing melodic spell. Sky’s synths growled and rumbled their imprecations as Jones’ vocals offered their rich mixture of dispassionate voice over and delicate vibrato balladeering.

Hints of Latin rhythms in a descending rhumba pattern were a new wrinkle for this duo on “Into Dust,” the surprising appearance of congas dovetailed beautifully with Sky’s feline synths; trailing off into the thin air as Mr. Jones explored the fatal heart of the song. The liquid tablas melting into the queasy synth runs during the song’s climax.

Atmospheric harmonics gave way to rare bass drum hits with Jones’ wordless falsetto croon being the harbinger of “Kabbalistic;” the stunning centerpiece of the album. Shimmering synths were juxtaposed against tribal bass drum patterns and the yearning tone of Mr. Jones. Still, crystalline tones had counterpoint in the Theremin-like synths keening in the shadow margins of the song. This one could weave its spell all day long as the band were clearly leaning here into a glorious, mid-period Talk Talk influence that was a newly emergent feature in their stylistic toolkit. The backward vocal snatches in the percussive breakdown of the middle eight were something new and breathtaking for this duo. Even as this was another fascinating instance of Mr. Jones taking New Age concepts, which he comes by honestly as a yoga instructor, and dropping them into a startling Art Rock/Synthpop context like no one else I could name. Oh for the nine minute 12” remix of this track! A Monk can hope, anyway.

“This Intensity” had been the band’s pre-release single from two months ago which fit right into the vibe of the album while being their strongest roots check here from their Synthpop origins. The random wave riffage from Logan Sky laid a strong foundation for the appearance of Jones’ falsetto phrasing. I immediately took a shine to the shimmering beauty of the paradoxical “Burn It Down.” Possibly the most lush and melodic call for eschatological obliteration I’ve ever heard. A song that embodies our troubling zeitgeist in a gorgeous wrapper of musical sophistication, including Linton’s eBow guitar and effulgent synths on long delay. With plenty of room in the expansive coda for a smoky sax solo courtesy of Gary Barnacle that one could readily dive into. I am feeling the siren call to listen to this one on a loop for hours.

The poise and glacial clarity of “Opium No. 17” revealed that the duo had not neglected Erik Satie by way of JAPAN as an emergent influence, in the vein of the elegant and haunting “Nightporter.” Slipping out of the interlude of narcotic reverie, “Dharma Wanderers” offered some redemptive rays of hope while being grounded by squelchy, pulsating synth bass and piano on an expansive delay; echoing across the sound field. Mr Jones’ delivery of the chorus was a thing of solid, dignified beauty, and the slurred drum fill hook that formed the breaks in the song’s coda added some welcome glitch factor to the otherwise lustrous song.

By way of contrast, queasy, curdled synths formed the diseased core of “Radiation.” Its subtle heartbeat rhythm unwavering as the detuned synths spread like a pall of smoke, blotting out the residual sunshine remaining from the previous song. Jones’ portentous voice over pulling us fully into the crepuscular world of the song. Linton’s eBow returned in the pulsating coda that was “Burnt Embers.” Offering contrast to the urgent synth loops of the intro before this dark instrumental succumbed to the guitarists’ siren call.

This new album represented yet another plateau of sophistication and refinement from Jones + Sky along with their valued collaborators, guitarist Jan Linton and the saxophonist Gary Barnacle. Having the addition of the latter two allowed the band to move further from their Synthpop roots and into the third album of their now mature phase. But notice must also be given about the varied and creative rhythm programming throughout the album from Logan Sky that showed him thinking outside of the Synthpop box with the wildcard here being the hints of Raga coming from perhaps the direction of Mr. Jones; no stranger to the culture of India. It’s been eight years of work now from the peripatetic duo and the modest Synthpop origins of the two have been largely been shed like a too-tight chrysalis for the butterfly phase of their entrancing career.

Come Friday, the physical CDs for Steven Jones’ + Logan Sky’s new album, “Sacred Figures,” will be moving out into the world, but today, we can all have a listen as the digital version is available on Bandcamp. It’s only £5.00 for the DL or £8.00 for the CD [£12 when autographed]. Their eagerness to move beyond dance floor bangers shows them to be restless souls, striving to continually grow and pull inspiration from bands on the high end of the Art Rock spectrum such as Talk Talk and JAPAN. Looking back at their early years, one can hardly imagine them playing Depeche Mode cover sets in Estonia at this point in their development. With “Sacred Figures,” they’ve raised the stakes so much higher as they continue to delight the mind and ear with their musical achievement.

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