Cris Kailer (Skies Are Illusionists) - Replicating The Sun EP - Album Review

Year: 2013

I’ve always been a staunch admirer of one man projects. That admiration comes from knowing how hard it would be to steer a musical project single handedly. As opposed to being in bands, people handling one man projects find themselves solely responsible for every tiny aspect of the music and they have the added pressure of being skilled at all instruments involved in the project. So, it doesn’t come as a surprise that we don’t find many good quality one man projects these days. But the few ones that do exist continue to do a marvellous job in enthralling the listener all by themselves.

Cris Kailer is a multi instrumentalist who hails from West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA. He writes and records music under the name ‘Skies are Illusionists’ and last year, he released a two track EP titled ‘Replicating The Sun’, through Contorted Records.

This is a small EP which comprises of one beautifully written track that is split into two parts, spanning a total of just 16 minutes in length. The music of Cris Kailer is devoid of voice and the absence of vocals is well justified by the show this guy puts on with just his guitar. Coming to the song writing, it is a very progressive track. Cris takes a simple progression and through the course of the song, manipulates it in the most beautiful ways possible and adds quite a few magical touches to it.

Cris Kailer has equally capable hands on the bass, as he adds some well times touches with it to the guitar parts. The EP does a good job in making the listener lose himself within the progressions. However, the drums could have been so much more better, as they sound quite simple. The drumming does do a fine job at backing the other instruments, but with a progressive piece of music like this, there is quite a lot of room for improvisation and innovation in the drumming, which sadly is not happening here. There is room for improvement in the production too. While the attempt to retain the organic feel is commendable, sometimes it feels a little too abrasive for this type of music.

Drumming apart, the talent possessed by Cris for writing progressive instrumentals is very remarkable. Two songs are a bit too less to draw conclusions from, but judging by just these two tracks, great things can be expected.

Rating: 75%