Perhaps guitarist, singer/songwriter, and producer Fernando Perdomo should have slowly ramped up his twelve-album series. ‘Waves,’ released in January 2025, is an inviting and daring collection of songs. 

Perdomo will release the incising ‘Waves 2’ in February 2025. Has the journeyman guitarist reached the same heights as the first ‘Waves’ album? Listening to Waves and Waves, 2 back-to-back, reveals that Perdomo has a deep bench of progressive rock instrumentals that deserve repeated listening. 

Perdomo is giving his fans almost three box sets of music. Waves 2 continues the musical themes from both the four ‘Out To Sea’ albums and the ‘Waves’ release. Perdomo does all the musical heavy lifting, playing guitar, bass, drums, and a series of vintage keyboards. The result is a warm and original-sounding release.

“Brothers Of The Ocean” starts the album with mystical-sounding keyboards, soaring, clean guitars, and epic drumming. The wordless vocalization only adds to the mystery, while the lead guitar and analog-sounding keyboards add to the vastness of the song. The album’s first single, “Journey On A River,” combines a driving rhythm backing with a slightly distorted guitar lead, which gives the feeling of rapid forward motion. Perdomo adds melodic bass passages and dynamic drumming to create the scene. “Sea to Sea, ” another of my favorite songs on the album,  starts with ethereal keyboards, delicate bass, and drums. The keys recall slower Tony Banks-type passages, while the song’s main theme is delicate and beautiful. “Black Mountain Blue Sky provides a nice mid-tempo contrasts. Synth strings and harmonized lead guitars give the song a heavier edge while teasing a daring document. The album does not have a prog-rock epic, yet the song begs for a few more measures. “This Appearing Act,” with its marching rhythms and 70’s style synth, is another excellent vehicle for Perdomo’s soaring guitar leads. The mid-song turnaround cleverly allows Perdomo’s guitars to take flight. 

“Alone By The Sea (3AM)” shakes things up with its 3/4 time signature, assertive acoustic guitar rhythm, and majestic lead guitar. The song is the longest on the album and is a building block for an epic album closer. While “Sunset In Queenstown” isn’t that epic, that does not mean the listener will be disappointed. Fernando Perdomo has crafted another engaging chapter in the ‘Wave’ series. Is it better than the initial ‘Waves’? That’s a tall order, but you be the judge.