Adrian T. Bell - Navigator (2018)

Adrian T. Bell, a British musician based in Prague, formerly the frontman of postpunk band The Prostitutes, releases his third solo album, simply called Navigator, on the 4th of September. It was created in collaboration with American Grammy award winning music producer Sylvia Massy, who collaborated with musicians like Johnny Cash, Prince, Red Hot Chilly Peppers and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The album originated in the spring of this year in the famous La Fabrique Studio in Saint-Remy de Provence and the Faust Studios in Prague.

After the two solo albums Different World (Apollo Award for the Album of 2014) and Night and Day, Adrian T. Bell and his band, The Sleeper Agents, give us an album that tells of the dilemmas of the contemporary man in the modern world. A man who would like to conquer or even save the world, but the reality of everyday life offers the routine to paying bills and permanently unclogging pipes and makes him want to escape the world instead. "My grandfather worked as a policeman during The Blitz in London and was busy working to save lives," says Adrian. "I went to the Navy at the age of sixteen, and travelled the world.” Such opportunities for fulfilling the male-minded self-realization are now ever more difficult in the reality of the European metropolis. Navigator adresses such thoughts and dilemmas and perhaps offers a moment of escapism. Every one of us dreams of doing something different and we as “sleeper agents” are waiting for that moment when one day we hear the phone ring and are given an order to perform some task that will truly fullfill us.

Collaboration with a new music producer has brought new experiences. Sylvia Massy says that the is trying to provide the artists she produces with a framework in which a masterpiece can stand out better. "Sylvia has a lot of ideas and very unconventional sound experiments, but the resulting sound preserves the authenticity of the demo recordings. That's exactly what I wanted, "Adrian says. "When I learned that Sylvia, a renowned and highly sought-after producer, agreed to my collaboration offer in January, it took me a while to believe it. Sylvia gave me the condition that I must write one song each day. And so I composed, under pressure, to achieve the best results. Most of those demo recordings eventually hit the record. "

The result is nine strong tracks, of which at least seven have the potential of a single. The genre is not clearly defined, but overall the album has a cinematic quality as if we were thrown into an adventure with elements of Motown, funk, pop, rock and country. The album takes its name from the title track Navigator, a song that was recorded in the studio and beyond - two Prague's churches are featured on it - the pipe organs are from Saint Salvatore and the bells from the Saint Vitus Cathedral.