THE CINEMATIC SOLO ALBUM FROM THE EX-PORCUPINE TREE & EX-JAPAN KEYBOARDIST
With ‘Planets + Persona’, Richard Barbieri released his most sonically expansive & ambitious work to date. It is his third solo album, but the first to feature such a wide pallet of instrumentation & has a central theme of duality. Vintage analogue synthesisers combine with acoustic performances & jazz elements, including some stark & memorable improvisations from a personally hand-picked group of musicians. Twisted voices are always present, though not in a language we can recognise.
As an ex-founder of the new-wave pioneers Japan, Barbieri was a leader in creating the groundbreaking synthesiser sound that defined the band & influenced the likes of The Human League, Duran Duran, Gary Numan, Talk Talk & a whole raft of artists to follow. Together, the band record five studio albums culminating in the groundbreaking ‘Tin Drum’, which stayed in the UK Albums Chart for a year.
Following Japan, Barbieri joined Steven Wilson to form the legendary progressive outfit Porcupine Tree, playing keyboards on all the band’s albums since 1993 as well as releasing a run of superb solo albums, culminating in his latest, 2026's ‘Hauntings’.
This edition of ‘Planets + Persona’ is presented as a 4-panel CD digipack.