Lonely

Lonely Robot, the project masterminded by producer, guitarist and singer/songwriter John Mitchell (It Bites, Frost*), returns with its 5th studio album A Model Life. Broadening his sonic palette, John explores new territory on this record, crafting sounds more expansive in nature but never lacking his inherent feel for big melodies and even bigger choruses. From the introspective title track, to the soaring and epic ‘Duty Of Care, this a record unlike anything in Mitchell’s catalogue. Once again joined by drummer extraordinaire Craig Blundell (Steve Hackett), ‘A Model Life’ is yet another brilliant entry into an already impressive career.

“Feelings are good,” a vocoder-soaked John Mitchell tells us at the beginning of Lonely Robot’s fourth album. The sentiment of this album’s title, and its opening title track, could not have come at a more appropriate time, as in 2020 people all around the world find themselves awash in a sea of myriad feelings, considering everything happening in the world these days. And, as much as 2020 feels like we should get a “do-over” or a mulligan on this entire year so far, as if these past six or seven months were just some cruel joke, somehow time marches ever onward; in the music world, it has suddenly been nearly a year-and-a-half since Lonely Robot‘s most recent album, “Under Stars”. In the world of John Mitchell, one of the most prolific song-crafters in all of progressive music, that might as well be an eternity…

As the first album the band recorded after guitarist Henry Garza suffered a serious spinal injury when he fell off-stage during a concert, 2014's Revelation finds Los Lonely Boys revitalized. The Texan trio has never been constrained by genre, but here they let their imagination wild, dabbling in every sound or style that's ever tickled their fancy, easing into proceedings with a teasing bit of traditional Tex-Mex – "Blame It on Love" opens with little more than guitar, accordion, and voice – before diving into every roots or rock style they've ever hinted at in the past.