Before I say anything of critical significance, a word to the wise for listeners: This record isn't pretty. The guitars sound okay, but the recording quality of the drums is far from the studio quality to which most people are accustomed. I am ambivalent about this; while I, being a prog fiend, am especially fond of lush production, Sky Flying By is a one-person operation all the way through, written, played, and recorded by an anonymous individual in a home studio. Besides that, who cares if the production is crap if the music is good? Not me.

Most of the songs on How Much More Difficult Will This Get are in the five to six-minute range. The biggest question in my mind is, why? They are collections of simple chords, simple melodies, and simple rhythms. The simplicity of these elements is not necessarily bad; in fact, they are skillfully employed at points throughout the album. This is especially true of "Remembering the Forgotten Toys", the one track on this record that displays some of the anonymous musician's prog background (his/her band blog refers to playing along to Genesis' Abacab as a kid), and introduces some subtler guitar work and more engaging, almost doom-y play on the toms. That said, many of the elements in play on How Much More... are clear vestiges of the pop world, and would likely be more effective in smaller doses. Pop is a realm that feeds on immediacy, and though the songs here aren't bad, there isn't a whole lot to make me want more than three or four minutes of what's being offered at a time.

This appears to be Sky Flying By's first release, and it definitely gives the impression of an artist still trying to figure out exactly what it is he wants to say. It is a very confused release, as evidenced perhaps most explicity by the interjection, after five clearly rock/pop tracks, of a decent but fairly generic ambient/downtempo piece to close out the album. It's the kind of closing you can experience by drinking orange juice immediately after you brush your teeth. Odd closer aside, there are still parts (most of "Tomorrow Morning's Tide") that offer an awareness, if not a bit of likeness, of such artists as From Monument to Masses, and these grow on me with every listen. There are glimmers of goodness - they just gleam more like shards of glass than a precious stone.

Sky Flying By has acknowledged many of the weaknesses of this album on its blog, and has resolved to spend more time writing the next album, which has already begun (this one is from 2008). I can honestly say that I hope he makes good on that; there is some definite potential in this record - in little things like the way beats and chord progressions are matched - and a little bit of maturity could go a long way towards making the next effort successful. Unfortunately, I have to say that this record just doesn't have its affairs in order, and I can't confidently endorse it for other listeners as more than a curiosity or a preview of what's to come. My advice to SFB, not just as a critic, but from one musician to another: find a direction. The basics are there, but they need shape and meaning in order to be transformed from mere notes to music.

-Lee Stablein