Peter Hammill-In Camera (1974)

Very often, when Peter Hammill released a new solo album, many wondered if it was truly a new release from his main band, Van Der Graaf Generator, or his own. This doubt was reflected, for example, in his fourth album, "In Camera", which, as had happened on his previous recordings, even featured some members of VDGG. On this occasion, Hammill once again demonstrates his great creativity, composing an incredible series of dark and dramatic pieces, making intensive use of synthesizers and the Mellotron, played here by David Hentschel, and employing a great intellectual passion with reflective existentialist musings. Recalling passages from VDGG's album "Pawn Hearts", the angry "(No More) The Sub-Mariner", the philosophical "Fain-Heart and the Sermon", and the terrifying "Gog" emerge. In "In Camera", Hammill narrates, both musically and lyrically, a succession of eerie sounds, from gothic to tribal, all nuanced by electronic counterpoints. All that restlessness is wonderfully reflected in the final tour de force, "Magog (In Bromine Chambers)", where the singer explores human psychology. However, there are also more grounded and easily digestible moments, and in this context, we find the acoustic "Ferret and the Featherbird", the pastoral "Again", and the thoughtful "The Comet, The Course, The Tail". Undoubtedly, with this work, Peter Hammill once again defied convention with another album not for the general public.