Album Review of
The Fermi Paradox

Written by Robert Silverstein
April 22, 2019 - 4:56pm EDT
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Instrumental music composer and keyboardist Paul Kirkpatrick—recording as a solo artist under his stage name Paul K—has released three critically acclaimed solo albums in England during the past 5 years, starting with his first solo album, Soul Connection in 2015, followed by Omertà in 2017. During this time Paul also released the 2016 debut album by his rock band with singer Rachel Harvey, in the band, Glitch_Code. Now in the Fall of 2018, Paul K has released his third solo album, a powerful concept album called The Fermi Paradox. The anticipated follow-up album to Paul's critically-acclaimed 2017 album Omertà, The Fermi Paradox is a progressive music opus that merges 21st century instrumental rock with an avant-garde neoclassical edge. A tribute album with a twist, Paul K's album, The Fermi Paradox pays an instrumental prog-rock homage to Italian scientist / physicist Enrico Fermi and his famous 1950 quote “So, where is everybody?” also known as "Where Are They?" – a question that sparked a pop culture revolution in the middle of the 20th century. The Fermi Paradox literally renewed a quest to search for life beyond Earth. As written about in greater detail in The Fermi Paradox CD booklet liner notes, Enrico Fermi’s question was, quite subliminally, first introduced to the pop culture masses in 1968, by way of Stanley Kurbrick’s acclaimed masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey.  As more astute listeners and critics will note, Paul K’s 2018 concept album, The Fermi Paradox is among the most unique sounding and unparalleled instrumental albums released thus far in the 21st century. Paul K explains, “This album is about the vastness of the universe and if we are alone or not and about the evolution of life.” Paul K also implements spoken word tracks on several songs here that serves, from a historical viewpoint, to underscore a cosmic connection to the expansive scientific concepts of The Fermi Paradox. The track “The Great Silence”, features cellist / vocalist Rachel Dawson reading a poem by the late holocaust poet Abraham Sutzkever. The Fermi Paradox also features spoken word tracks of rare recordings, from the Oxford University Fine Tuning Workshop videos, featuring esteemed Oxford professors Joe Silk and Mario Livio as they deliberate upon the Fermi Paradox and Enrico Fermi’s famous 1950 quote “So, where is everybody?” Musicians performing on The Fermi Paradox include: Paul K: Piano, Synths, Theremin, Percussion, Mellotron, Programming - Julian Todd: 4, 5, 6 String and Fretless Bass - Gordon Foley: Guitar, Ebow - David Williamson-Smith: Drums - Rachel Dawson: Cello, Narration and Backing Vocals - Corinna Jane: Backing Vocals. In addition to his core band with keys, drums, guitars, cello, bass and spoken word vocals, The Fermi Paradox also features diverse instrumentation such as electric violin, theremin, pipes and more, giving the album an ancient yet futuristic feel. The most ambitious album so far by music maestro Paul Kirkpatrick, The Fermi Paradox propels progressive music forward into a deep and dark sonic future.