Darrel Treece Birch’s Atlantea - Life (2025)

Any review of music by DTB will probably always mention that he is keyboard player with Ten, but for me he will always be the musician I discovered by accident one night when on the net, listened to ‘Celestial’ and decided to review it. Since then we have stayed in contact and I have reviewed all his solo works, plus of course Ten and Nth Ascension, as well as the debut album by his latest project, Darrell Treece-Birch’s Atlantea. Now he is back with the second, and yet again he has provided much of the instrumentation himself and brought in additional musicians and singers to help out with completing the sound.

There is always a potential when reviewing an album from someone I consider a friend that I am too nice in the review, as no-one likes to upset their mates no matter how objective us writers try to be, which sometimes has the reverse effect and that I am too hard as I don’t want to be accidentally unfair. Hence, I listened to this album far more than I normally would before attempting to cobble together some words, and I am glad I did. The first time I played it through I really wasn’t sure as it felt too middle of the road for me, and then the next time I felt the second half was much stronger than the first, but the more I listened to it the more I found I was really enjoying the mix of styles and singers, and that it really was growing on me so I can honestly say this is one of those releases which, at least for me, was not immediate but I am very glad indeed that I persevered.

It opens with “Millenium”, where DTB restrains himself by only providing guitar, bass, drums and keyboards, and he is joined by Steph Honde who provides a wonderfully broad vocal and Dann Rosingana with some delicate guitar solos. Of all the songs on the album, this is the one I could most imagine being performed by Ten as it would definitely suit the style of Gary Hughes while Dann is of course also a member of that band. There is only one song where Darrell takes lead vocals this time, “Light In The Darkness”, and it is one of those where we are allowed inside a very personal experience as here he is singing to his daughter, Kayleigh, saying what she means to him, and she joins him on this track. In some ways it reminds me of “Babe”, where Dennis DeYoung wrote the songs as a birthday present for his wife Suzanne and was never expected to be recorded by Styx. Kayleigh’s vocals are not up to the standard of the rest of the album but listening to them sing these heartfelt words to each other is very special.

It is hard to pick a highlight, part of me thinks I should say it is the five-part eighteen-minute-long “Three Lights”, but to be honest it is probably the song in the middle of the album, ‘Lanikea”. It not only contains a wonderful vocal performance from Eóin de Paor but has a lovely acoustic underlay which takes us to a stunning Floyidan bridge. On this track he provides bass and the guitar solos, and he knows exactly what Darrell is looking for as it shifts and moves with wonderful dynamics and together, they have created something truly beautiful. I know Darrell has more music in the pipeline, and is touring with Ten as well, but I hope it is not too long until get the next release from Darrell Treece-Birch’s Atlantea as this is a delight from beginning to end.