Artist: UNITOPIA
Album: THE GARDEN (2CD)

Release date: 2008
Media type: CD

Music to dream along to, to enjoy and develop visions – a wide range of different emotions is associated with the songs by the Australian band, Unitopia. Their carefully arranged compositions are as multi-layered as they are transparent, and at the same time every one of their songs is pervaded by an infallible feel for melodies and emotional depth. Imagine The Flower Kings, Van der Graaf Generator, King Crimson and Men at Work in one and the same boat, and you get a vague idea of the artistic worlds which Unitopia unite. The current second release by the six-piece (Mark Trueack, vocals; Sean Timms, keyboards, guitar; Matt Williams, guitar; Monty Ruggiero, drums; Shireen Khemlani, bass; Tim Irrgang, percussions), entitled The Garden, is a double album featuring impressions which are as diverse as the place described in pictorial language by the band.

Unitopia began in 1996 when a mutual friend who ran a CD store introduced Mark Trueack and Sean Timms after realising the two had similar musical tastes. They discovered many similarities, not only in music, but in their sense of humour, their movie and TV tastes and their joy for life and concern for the environment. A date was made for Trueack to come over to Timms’ studio. As soon as Timms heard Trueack sing, he knew that they had to start working together. This formulated into an energetic and exciting song-writing partnership that culminated in the completion of their debut album More Than A Dream in 2005 “With our first CD, Mark and I were learning about one another, what we liked, what we didn’t and what we wanted to get out of the Unitopia partnership,” Timms explains. “For the most part, it was a labour of love, something we did in our infrequent spare time. We weren’t necessarily recording an album, just writing a collection of songs for our own enjoyment. This collection became More Than a Dream, and it was only after it was released and we saw all the positive responses we got from all around the world that we thought ‘Maybe we’re on to something here’.”
With great commitment, the two returned to work. The Garden was written, demoed, recorded, mixed and mastered in three years. “The Garden is a more coherent, mature album, more firmly placed in the progressive rock genre. It is far more lyrically and musically intricate than More Than a Dream,” says Sean Timms, who produced the album together with Trueack, adding: “Whereas More Than A Dream was recorded over eight years in three different studios, The Garden was finished in one studio in three years. This means that there is a lot more consistency between the tracks.”

The result is a concept album which takes its listeners on a fascinating journey through space and time. From the opening track, ‘One Day’, to the opulent, more than 22-minute title song, from ‘Journey’s Friend’, the expansive beginning of the second CD, to the final ‘321’, this double album keeps its listeners in permanent suspense. “The songs do tie very nicely together and have a flow to them,” Timms confirms, explaining its thematic background: “The overall message that the album conveys is one of redemption. It is an album about hope coming from despair. Whereas More Than A Dream was predominantly concerned with where the world was going and pointing the proverbial finger at the ‘higher powers’ – the government, media and authoritarian leadership –, The Garden is much more concerned with getting our own lives right before we criticise others. It’s much more introspective and asks the question ‘What do I need to change in myself in order to elicit a positive change in others?’” A truly sensitive question which is reflected in every note of Unitopia’s wonderfully lyrical music.

TRACKLIST CD 1:
“The Garden”

1. One Day 2:27
2. The Garden 22:35
3. Angeliqua 9:50
4. Here I Am 3:19
5. I Wish I Could Fly 6:51
6. Inside The Power 4:31

TRACKLIST CD 2:
“The Journey”

1. Journey’s Friend 16:28
2. Give And Take 5:09
3. When I’m Down 5:41
4. This Life 4:47
5. Love Never Ends 3:48
6. So Far Away 2:11
7. Don’t Give Up Love 7:49
8. 321 5:31

LINE-UP:

Mark Trueack (Vocals, Percussion)
Sean Timms (Keyboards, Mandolin, Vocals)
Matt Williams (Guitars, Banjo, Vocals)
Shireen Khemlani (Bass, Vocals)
Monty Ruggiero (Drums, Percussion)
Tim Irrgang (Percussion)
Mike Stewart (Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet, Percussion, Keyboards)