The sophomore offering from Albequerque's Illustrated Man is a conceptual album that takes you on a trip from the beginnings of life to the end. Oddly, life doesn't end in the strictest sense; IM intimate that life is a circle, understood either metaphorically or philosophically.

Like a trip through amniotic fluid, I Am is the birth sequence for Life, and in the 21 seconds that it takes to finish and blend into I Am Not you know that life starts with a bang! And what if your life was a movie? Would they have started the production just after you were born? "I Am Not" attempts to paint this picture. It is impossible to remember what life was like right after we were born. The assumption is that life at this stage is pretty easy going; eating and sleeping mostly. So it's no surprise to find the easy-going I Am 2 up next.

The following three tracks take us through the school years. There is no mistaking the bitter tone in John Wall's voice at the start of Begin to Unlearn . The things you learn before going to school take on a new perspective as you start mingling with other kids and teachers and trying to figure out your place in the social pecking order. There are so many things associated with school years in our lives, some positive and some negative; this is a journey with as many questions as answers.

Suddenly, you're out of school and working: Living Someone's Dream . Many times during our lives we have done what we thought we were supposed to do, conformed to the wishes and hopes of our parents, girlfriends or wives, only to find out later that we are allowing them to fulfill their life's hopes and dreams vicariously through our own. We miss, or perhaps are unsure of, what our own goals and ambitions are.

While we live, we forget how much sand is falling through the hour glass. Tracks 9-11 take us on a trip to realization. As the clock ticks down, tracks 13-15 bring an assessment of our lives, the acceptance of age and our approaching death. It's all happened so fast -- and as we age we know that each year seems to pass more quickly than the last.

I Am Too starts where we began, with the exception of the heart monitor beeping and then ending. The fade in starts life anew. Welcome To Your Life is a breathtaking listening experience, full of wonderful music, lyrically complex imagery and true attention to detail.

Recommended Tracks:
I Am Not
I Am 2