With excitement and high expectations I have been waiting for the second album Part Two: Emotional Creatures by singer/songwriter STEVE THORNE. It took a bit longer than originally planned - that is no surprise, thinking that THORNE is a notorious perfectionist. He wanted the album to be equal to Emotional Creatures: Part One in concept and quality.
In order to have an easier way to make the sound just like in part one you can find almost all the great names of musicians of the last album taking place in recording part two - with some additions like Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree/Blackfield). But most of the instruments were played by THORNE himself.
All in all Part Two: Emotional Creatures comes out a bit darker and more melancholic then part one, despite the fact that the melodies are again beautiful, well even sweet as honey sometimes. They are not that unorthodox but very complex.
Delicate in parts but then powerful and accentuated songs create atmospheres and feelings again, which will be hard to find in music elsewhere.
An instrumental (Toxicana Apocalypso) with quite progressive arrangements is showing the overwhelming imaginativeness of STEVE THORNE in the beginning. Crossfire, a song about a visit in a Memorial Hospital, with rather simple melodies is spreading an unbelievably sad spirit which gives you the impression of seeing the desolate building right in front of you. An outstanding guitar-solo in the end gives a bit of a release. Two atmospheric instrumentals (6am(Your Time)/Solace) in the second half of the album are giving you time to dream before leading to the probably two most bitter songs (The White Dove Song/Sandheads). In the last song the album is closed by a melody that should be well known from Emotional Creatures: Part One.
The excellent songwriting, the emotional vocals, the unique instrumentation and the sometimes fragmentary seeming, deliberate lyrics of STEVE THORNE are turning this album into something outstanding that is at least as good as the first part: Emotional Creatures: Part One.
I would think that everybody who liked the first album will love this one. And to those who are interested in extraordinary songwriting material, wonderful melodies and virtuous instrumentalists: give it a try or you might miss out one of your favorite albums :)