Patrick Moraz - Patrick Moraz (1978/2019)

Loosely planned around a concept of primitive (i.e. acoustic) culture clashing and then merging with modern (i.e. synthesizer) culture, Patrick Moraz could more accurately be said to track the keyboardist's descent from the rich acoustic diversity of his '70s releases into the synthesized tones of his '80s albums. While heavily processed vocoder lines show up in "Primitivisation," this album is largely instrumental. The result, though, is less a satisfying album than a interesting demo of Moraz's future work. The appropriately cheery "Temples of Joy" makes its debut here; with Bill Bruford's fine drumming added, it would reappear in an otherwise identical form six years later on Flags. That same album's "Karu" appears here as a solo in the gentle vocal piece "Keep the Children Alive," while the woozy pitch-bending synths of "The Conflicts" prefigures such releases as Future Memories. It is a pivotal album in Moraz's development, and thus worth a listen to Moraz fanatics, but there's little of abiding interest other than Moraz's pleasantly pensive piano solo in "Intentions."