VELON, JONNY - Goodness Flows (Sealed) (LP)

Our journey begins..Over the next eight tracks (eleven on the cd / download) he ventures across a lush earworm-infested terrain trying to make sense of his life and his surroundings in the midst of mental breakdown. It's a fascinating ride with any number of different drivers at the controls including rc of a Diver'- era Steve Winwood, Peter Gabriel, David Bowie (be-suited crooner version) and a largely forgotten 70s songwriter, Murray Head whose 1975 album 'Say It Ain't So' this record could easily be twinned with. There's funky tropical horns all over the place, especially on 'I Am Always Me'; the transcendental Indian influences of 'The White City'; a heat haze shimmering intro to 'Travelling' that could have fallen straight off the cult film 'Baraka' and back in Blighty piano traffic jams rocking 'The Cambridge Squeeze'. At every turn there's another turn as Jonny and an array of talented musicians twist in and out of musical styles, all woven seamlessly into his own autobiographical prog diary.