“I wanted to give it a proper burial at sea, as it were,” says John Mitchell, aka Lonely Robot. An Ending is the sixth and final album from his conceptual outlet.
When the release was announced he noted: “I wanted to close the circle of the Lonely Robot universe and bring back some of the elements that inspired the initial writing process. I hope fans find this to be a fitting epilogue to the most creative decade of my life.”
Launched in 2015, the project tells the story of an explorer traversing the vastness of space, reflecting on the meaning of life. It was planned as a trilogy when InsideOutMusic offered Mitchell a record deal.
“We got to the end of that cycle, I was on a bit of a roll, and I wanted to keep writing,” Mitchell tells Prog. “I did another two – but in my mind, it was always a sequence of three for some bizarre reason. Don’t ask me why! This brings closure to the whole thing. I’m pleased that I’ve got it to a place where I’ve put it to bed on my own terms.”
Mitchell has no regrets about drawing the curtain on Lonely Robot, observing that “the only guarantee in life is the impermanence of things.”
Unlike its predecessors, An Ending will be released by White Knight Records. “I’ve been with InsideOutMusic since 2003, but they’ve had a bit of a reshuffle in recent years,” says Mitchell.
“Quite a few of my former label pals – including myself and Frost* – have fallen by the wayside. But I’m not sad about the ending of this chapter in my musical life. Turning 50 was a big thing for me. You think, ‘Well, I’m on the wrong side of 50 now; it’s all downhill!’
“But since that happened, I’ve joined Asia and seen more of the world in the last couple of years than I had before. There are things to look forward to. This is the first record with a different team around me, and that’s exciting. So I’m not sad about that in the slightest.”
Making sure that Mitchell is kept nice and busy, Asia are set to return with their own new album, Indigo, which is released via Frontiers Music on November 6.
It’s their first studio release for 12 years, following on from 2014’s Gravitas, and it’s the first word from the band’s latest incarnation of Mitchell, longtime keyboard player Geoff Downes, Planet X drummer Virgil Donati and bassist-singer Harry Whitley.
“The album was really a joy to make,” Downes recently told Prog. “I forged a close writing relationship with Harry, and I felt how great was to be working with someone who had very similar musical influences and taste once again.
“I feel that this is one of our best albums to date. The songs are deep in musicality, with a powerful and original performance, dynamic and strong lyrical undertones – it’s an album that hopefully our fans will widely appreciate and support our cause to put Asia back on the map.”
Downes said of lead track The Traveller (Into The Light): “It’s a high-power energy piece, with a few elements of prog trickery, but retaining the accessible chorus block, which was always a signature of Asia’s music.
“Virgil’s dynamic and innovative drum parts drive the piece along, while John’s soaring guitars keep the momentum. It’s a song of great optimism, mainly about looking forward to the future.”
Indigo was produced by Downes and the band, with mixing and mastering handled by Mitchell himself – which goes to show you really can’t keep a good man down.
An Ending is on sale now. Indigo is available for pre-order.
