SW has build a serious repertoire of synthetic sound which apparantly bugged a lot of SW purists. Experiments with different sound and genres have always bothered the purists for one reason or the other. Perhaps, the strong nostagic value and an ineluctable comfort a listener experiences with music is too sacred for change.

TO is a nice surprise for both the hardcore SW purists and those who embraced his drift in direction. No doubt, it has a considerable electronic sound, especially the ARP 3000, but SW has managed to strick a balance – accidental or intentional, but TO is indeed a more truer SW sound.

Immediately after the first listen, you are filled with a sweet tender poignance that could be fully evoked and closed by a follow up listening of Hand.Cannot.Erase or The Raven. This nostagia however, is short, sweet and doesn’t overwhelm or haunt the sonic nuance and progression of the album.

As far as the genre is concerned, TO is more experimental, abstract and pushes the genre even further – undeniably towards a more modern, relevant yet organic, original interpretation of the style.

SW re-working of the classic albums holds much influence in TO. At times, it felt like a King Crimson project, and at times the abstract of Pink Floyd is profound. TO as such, is an evolution, yet another step in the right direction. For all reasons SW is loved and respected, the one that stands singular is his adherence to consistency at pushing the boundaries of sonics and composition, but TO, on the contrary is a subtle conservative act, such that it is almost an accidental follow up to Hand.Cannot.Erase.

What will TO lead to? The indiscriminate harmony of subtle synthesised sounds, overwhelming, powerful and thrash guitars, the beautiful melancholic SW’s voice and a daring to actually make a legitamate prog rock album in this age is a geniune remark of an authentic and honest creative person and his process.

Whether TO shall stay in bits or pieces, or as a general conundrum of a bold statement of which SW is a master of, only time could tell, nevertheless, it is a throughly pleasant experience. Driven by nostalgia, engima and a finer human touch, TO is a personal note, a love letter indeed, from SW to the hardcore fandom of the master – that he is here, making sure to deliver the best, and with as much honesty as possible.

By the end you are left with only one rumination – “Thank God for SW.”

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