Short Reviews [Strange Pop - 2024 - "Urban Legends"]

Here we have the third album from Michal Dziadosz (vocals, bass, rhythms, analogue synthesizers, electric piano, guitars) along with guitarists Kovy Jaglinski and Pablo Si who provide contributions on three tracks each. This is his third album in three years, with Jaglinski also helping out on last year's "1979-1982", which also featured a keyboard solo from label boss Ryszard Kramarski (Millenium, TRK, Framauro). Here we have an album which was conceived in the prog world but was then mixed with urban soul and dance to create something which in many ways is out of time but also belongs to both the modern dance scene and classic disco. One only has to look at his influences to understand this will probably be a little different as there cannot be many prog bands who cite Daft Punk, David Sylvian, David Bowie, Paul Weller, Sade, Robert Glasper and Frank Sinatra. It is a very clean sounding release but due to the heavy dance and soul elements is not something I can warm to at all. Yes, there is plenty here which I could imagine being played on easy listening popular radio, but that is one reason why I never play music radio in the car (given the state of the world I don't listen to the news too much either as it is just way too depressing). However, there is no doubt that Dziadosz has a clear direction for what he wants to achieve, and is undoubtedly taking crossover to its logical extremes, which I can appreciate even if I do not personally enjoy it. This is not my style of music at all, but if you fancy art rock mixed with urban as opposed to the more bombastic styles of the genre then this may be for you.