Short Reviews [Robeone - 2021 - "Halos And Dogs"]

Robeone is the pseudonym for Robert Schindler, a keyboard player who has played keyboards with and for a wide range of artists, bands and musicians, including Ronnie Spector, Johnny Nash and Ruth Copeland, and this is his sixth solo release. Although there are some jazzy shifts here and there, especially when Robert allows himself time on piano, for the most part this is the sort of music one would expect to hear from someone in a home studio who is a keyboard player with multiple instruments. Actually, I would have much preferred to have heard Robert play jazz on the piano with possibly some other instruments for background as it is when he allows himself to do just that, such as on the 12-minute-long “Turn Off Your Brain Part 2” that he really comes alive. For the most part this is music which meanders rather aimlessly, so much so that while it is an enjoyable listen there is not much to incentivize the listener to put it on again once it has finished. The first time I listened to it I realised it had finished and I had not been paying much attention to it whatsoever which is not something really wants from an album as it had literally passed me by even though I was wearing headphones. Repeated plays have shown that Robert is a very good keyboard player indeed, with a great many sounds at his disposal, but there is not enough within the album to really capture and keep attention for length periods. Pleasant and enjoyable, it is rarely more than that but if you want music to drift along to then this may well be suitable.