eMusic Review
This is Tom Middleton's first, true solo outing and it's a stunner. He opens with the Crimson-inspired "Prana," driven by Fripp-like arpeggios that lead into a monumental beat and larger-than-life hooks. It's a heroic statement — a pronouncement, an affirmation of life and a hope-filled herald for the rest of the recording. He even throws in some soaring string arrangements in the middle third of the piece, which adds to its majesty. "Beginning of the Middle" follows "Prana" and is no less epic, starting slow, acquiring electronic force, pulsing into a breathtaking escape that accelerates into a galactic-groove-overdrive. It's the type of music that I'd want cranking if I owned my own personal star craft, kicking it past the atmosphere of the familiar. Lifetracks is a big recording, elements of funk, jazz and space music manifesting in a positively bearable lightness of being.
