On IMPOSTOR SYNDROME by Alex Marker and Ben Reed (Gare Du Nord Records, 2025)
Humbly titled yet made with wit and skill harmonising
This friendship formed duo of many years now release
An artful and idyllic looking record complete with supremely
Professional artwork. Held in the hand its prize pleases.
In a war torn world you’ll hear peace.
Not in the political sense, but in terms of the kind of calm
We all look for. As these Syndrome side effects each have order,
Neatness and nerve, steady beats. As the opening synth run
Displays in the title track where an appealingly clipped
Alex Marker, trades ‘ugly silence for reward’ as he ably
Lists the deceptions which are surrounding us all and compete
With our own masquerade as we pose and play at position,
From ‘guiding the submarine’ to love questioned, the song
Sounds like a slightly numbed Gary Numan or a more restrained
OMD. Before Revolutions reveals Ben Reed’s inner Atkin. (As in
Atkin and James) His smooth, near whispered voice is day haunting
As Marker’s lyrics in which ‘the birds head north/Predetermined
In their flight/From far away’ set souls free. Reed in his own records
Conveys the truly sensitive singer and as the multi-instrumentalist
On this album, Marker’s brainwaves can rhythm and rise as he drums
Neil Pearting across this unrushed yet rich record. Trouble in Store
Conveys wisdom as ‘Fate plays both ways’ as these normal men
(Without Norman) strain at the strings life can strum. And yet the song
Jazzes and bops as the allusions engage us, stoking the singer
While bound to ‘abhor/A labyrinth complete with Minotaur’
And the lure of a lore that makes each mistake appear mythic.
Meanwhile Marker somewhat surprisingly Noel Cowards,
Or Stilgoes and Skellerns to Ross Stanley’s piano and Matt Week’s
Trumpet call. Sequeing into The Empire’s Eye and a time of war
And defiance. A story song sent from ‘The Rescript of Honorius’
To a life disappearing. Marker’s stateliness sounds a warning,
As ‘the forum fills with weeds’ and the ‘Requiescat Britannia’
Duly attends death’s stark squall. As you listen to this record
You hear the faith found in friendship. These two men and friends
Have both crafted devotion and dare onto disc. Which spins on
Through Crossing the Line as Weeks flugelhorns before Reed’s
Repeal against a creeping malaise to raise atmos, which then
Cariotones into Night Blues; whose sinister synth sound appears
Wasplike; in stinging said night the air twists to be prowled
By an early John Foxx, yet another allusion. But as the album title
So offers there are no impostors of stye in this mix, just positive
Pretenders, like all who perform and then publish, attempting place
And position through both dedication and distance. Side two’s
Opening Instrumental has something of Camel and Caravan too
As it moves across uncharted terrain. It is a slow trawl at sunset
Or a soundtrack to a scene from a forgotten cult movie. Philip Dale’s
Flute and bassoon adding colour to that invisible pulse within grooves.
Reed’s vulnerable voice soothes wrent souls in the next song, Brief
Encounter. His steady tread Colin Blunstone’s across a Zombie like
Stroll spent by day. And there is a touch of Alan Parsons Project
Here too as the Syndrome still summons songsmiths and sweetness,
As ‘The twilight Zone betwixt now and a dream’ has its say. Marker’s
Midnight Moment sounds smooth, its intricate acoustics supporting
Regret and refrain for love wasted but in a hopeful way which sounds
True, if perhaps a little detached, but this is perhaps the inner art
Of impostors who recognise that they do so in order no doubt
To convey their own need for home to be found amidst weeping
Willows while Floating Downstream, a song in which our duo duet
With electrapiano enchanting and a matching melody finds a lyric
In which ‘abstract lies crackle and hum among the trees.’ Its ease
Plays charmingly at the ear, as Mutineers soon informs us. This song
Is another war story, this time from the First and a tale that Marker’s
Lyrics serve well, as each line leads to a lesson. It is one for the kids
And Grandparents, and while free from fashion it shows how man’s
Future is so easily sent to sale. The album ends with a start,
Marking Marker’s decision to make it. With a love song for Carla
Joy Evans, the album’s art designer and wife. The Next Step was sung
And written at first for their wedding. Having come so far,
They stand waiting to be taken by love into life, which is what
All of us want. And perhaps we all need to make albums.
Marker and Reed have now done so. And in their interest
And connections found there’s a knife placed between indecision
And acts. So let when they have done soon inspire you to
Record and to witness whatever resides in your heart. Pretence
Was child’s play, but it is both grist and gain for creators.
Become something other. Impostordom is a syndrome,
But once its been mastered and heard anew its an art.
David Erdos 13/11/25
https://alexmarkerandbenreed.bandcamp.com/http://eepurl.com/jpOSEI
Imposter Syndrome is released on December 5th 2025
.