From the outside looking in, they make a most unlikely pairing. Chris Braide (CB) is an internationally renowned producer and songwriter who’s worked with singers like Beyoncé, Lana Del Rey and Christina Aguilera, with his work on film scores and hit singles achieving multi-platinum status worldwide, whereas Geoff Downes (GD) is a prog icon who’s had a lengthy career playing keyboards in Yes and Asia (and also The Buggles, though let’s not go there!), but when they get together to record an album, the conjoining of their varying styles and very considerable talents usually produces a quite substantial outcome. They both have an immense body of work behind them and their respective musical skills combine fluently, CB with his good singing voice and lyric writing, while GD probably has few equals when it comes to putting together melodic pieces of music with a prog sensitivity. Could it be GD has finally found the musical soulmate he lost when John Wetton sadly left us in 2017?
‘Wonderland’ being a good example, a song about breaking away from rigid familial hierarchies and surviving the guilt of walking away. ‘I Wish I’d Known’ would’ve made a fine single, a reflective piece about the passing of time, “I wish I’d had the sense to see, the ego stops the heart from being free”, with the implication of time wasted and regrets. The heartfelt ‘Wherever You Are Now’ closes the album, a song about the heartache of really missing someone, and the subtle trumpet adds a melancholic vibe. A voice which carries slightly more emotional depth, someone like Colin Blunstone perhaps, could have made a real tear jerker out of this one.
There’re two lengthy epics which, together, run to twenty three minutes. Title track ‘Trauma’ begins slow but gradually builds up into a powerful piece, quite proggy with a touch of Fish-era Marillion added to the mix, and it’s a pity Dave Bainbridge, whose guitar work lights up the album, waited till the end to add his contribution, while on ‘Lake Of Memories’, a fourteen minute piece of varying moods and tempos, CB and GD go all metaphysical on us with a song about how immersion into said lake enables one to reconnect with the past, “to have one minute back with those we’ve lost”, and features some of the best musical performances on the entire album.
Trauma is an album of intriguing songs with some fine hooks and fine vocal performances, admirably supported by a top class rhythm section. The likelihood of gigs behind this new release is minimal, however, as both men are kept very busy with other projects, though I suspect DBA would be a much better known outfit if they were out in the public eye more.
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