Textures Keyboardist Releases Solo EP Featuring Members of Chimp Spanner, Skyharbor, Textures and More

Keyboard player Uri Dijk, the mastermind behind Textures’ sound effects and, um… sonic textures… has just released a solo EP all his own under the moniker The Ulex. He invited a bunch of friends to help him out too, names that should be well familiar to MetalSucks readers: Paul Ortiz (aka Chimp Spanner), Keshav Dahr of Skyharbor, David Maxim Micic of Destiny Potato, Justin Gosnell of Vestascension (and one-time taker-over of MetalSucks for a day) and Uri’s fellow bandmates in Textures, guitarist Bart Hennephof and vocalist Daniel de Jongh.

The album is called Old Giant, and it’s available on Bandcamp for any amount of money you feel like giving. It sounds roughly like what you’d expect: a little more easily digestible than most Textures music from a songwriting perspective but still plenty proggy with all sorts of cool shit going on harmonically and rhythmically. The keyboards and sound-effects are way out front in the mix throughout with multiple layers underneath vocal-like leads; the razor-sharp pitch bends drip with the influence of Pink Floyd’s Rick Wright, while the shreddy lead runs name-check Dream Theater’s Jordan Rudess. Pseudo-industrial backbeats and loops bring an unexpected twist that makes the music distinctly Uri’s own. All bass guitars were played by Bjorn van der Ploeg of Ethereal.

Stream the entire album below via Bandcamp:

Here are the guests and the tracks on which they appear:

“Beluga” ft Justin Gosnell (vestascension)
“Mezzanine” ft Keshav Dahr (skyharbor)
“Ashes” ft Bart Hennephof (Textures)
“Fingernail Eclipse” ft Daniel de Jongh (Textures)
“Brother” ft Paul Ortiz (chimp spanner) and guest solo by David Maxim Micic (Destiny Potato / Bilo)