Venus Loon - 2021 - Adios Vegas

(37:00; Aumega Project)

Venus Loon is a one-man project from multi-instrumentalist Peter Lawson, who had previously been in other bands before setting out on his own. His primary instrument is the guitar, but he also provides bass and keyboards as well as programmed drums. He suggests this album, released towards the end of 2021, is Space Rock, Psychedelic, Krautrock, Experimental (England), but to my ears it is mostly solid middle of the road crossover prog with quite a few psychedelic influences. It is not either heavy or deep enough to be thought of as space rock (although there are sone spacey synths here and there) while there is little which I would think of as experimental either. It is mostly instrumental, with some voices and samples here and there, and for the most partis quite laid back in its approach.

When he does provide a solo on electric guitar, Peter shows that is where his strengths really lie and we get some very nice runs and shreds indeed, but the production itself is quite flat, and tracks such as “Forever Gone” do not really bounce as much as they should. It is also let down somewhat by the use of programmed drums, which do not have the bit and cut through one would like, and this combined with the production means it is often somewhat flat. I am not sure how many albums have been released under this name, but I do know that Peter is incredibly prolific, and I have some more to listen to as well. This show promise, and is enjoyable in the background, but never really takes off as it might have.

Kev Rowland, March 2023

Links:
http://venusloon.com/
https://aumegaproject.com/