Silent Nation

Silent Nation is a work that stands as one culmination of the John Payne era, on which ASIA combined expansive keyboards, tidy guitar and strongly melodic songwriting. The songs do not push complex technique too far forward, splendidly balancing quiet drama with big hooks within refined arrangement. Centered on Geoff Downes’ keyboards and Payne’s singing, the band fully displays a matured expressiveness. On “What About Love,” “Silent Nation,” “Long Way From Home” and “The Prophet,” tension remains even in gentle passages, and a grown-up shadow drifts over the album. Songs like “Ghost in the Mirror” and “I Will Be There for You” breathe a firm melodic sense too. Naturally binding progressive thinking to pop immediacy, it is a full record that vividly conveys the maturity of Payne-era ASIA. After this, the band would head toward a historic reunion with the original lineup.