Walk between worlds

""For Gyumri" is Armenian pianist and composer Tigran Hamasyan's third release for Nonesuch. That said, it is also a five-track extension of 2017's excellent "An Ancient Observer" ... Like its predecessor, Hamasyan utilizes the solo piano approach, but augments it in places by wordless falsetto singing, whistling, and minimal electronics. These additions are not distractions, but integral to the works they appear in ... Because of its deliberate similarity to An Ancient Observer, For Gyumri may not be a major work on its own. That said, when considered as an extension of its predecessor, it serves to make an already remarkable statement profound".

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"While many bands who emerged during the post-punk and synth pop eras have unsuccessfully attempted the same feat (the most notable being U2, who failed so miserably in rediscovering their root identity on Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience), Simple Minds are not only able to remember who they were, but they execute it almost without a hitch".

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"Clocking in at an economical 42 minutes, it's possibly the most concise and disciplined album of their entire career; navel-gazing kept to a minimum and no one song outstaying its welcome for more than a few seconds. It's still undeniably cinematic and heartfelt, but clearly the work of mature heads reflecting on excesses of their past ...".