Album Review: Bioscope - Gentō (2025, earMUSIC)

Written: 3rd August 2025

The two members of Bioscope need no introduction to fans of progressive rock and electronic music. This new project finds Steve Rothery of Marillion and Thorsten Quaeschning of Tangerine Dream collaborating on an instrumental journey that ranges from the ambient to the progressive. With the project having its roots in early 2020 and further developed during a focused five-day session both in Berlin and at Rothery’s home studio in England, the resulting album Gentō (which was a Japanese term for the magic lantern, a device for projecting images) reveals its many layers. Each of the five tracks draws inspiration from man's endearing fascination with the moving image.

Opening the album with Vanishing Point - a three part, twenty minute piece - Bioscope waste no time in establishing what they are about. Beginning with rich ambient sequences, Vanishing Point (Part One) introduces both Rothery and Quaeschning within the first few moments, already displaying the wonderful chemistry that inhabits the entire album. The use of time and space across Gentō is one of its key strengths and the four minutes that make up Vanishing Point (Part One) allow both members to build the layers of instrumentation with patience and skill.

Vanishing Point (Part Two) picks up the pace a little and the rhythms become more insistent. The attention to detail is wonderful and while there are times when either Rothery or Quaeschning takes the lead, there is also a clear respect for each other. Neither overshadows the other and this willingness to collaborate fully makes Gentō all the stronger. The use of recurring motifs during the different parts of each track gives the listener hooks to cling to throughout the odyssey. Elbow’s Alex Reeves plays drums and delivers the kind of thoughtful, textural percussion that enhances rather than dominates – serving the tracks, while elevating the album as a whole. The build-up he is part of during Vanishing Point (Part Two) is one of the early highlights of the album, with Rothery soaring for the sky and Quaeschning producing the kind of sequencer patterns in which fans of Tangerine Dream will revel.

Vanishing Point (Part Three) – which makes up half the running time of the track – extends the quieter and experimental aspects of the previous parts. There are some beautiful ambient moments to be found throughout Gentō and the delicate interplay between the two during the central section of Vanishing Point (Part Three) is one of the best. Rothery’s use of tone and colour has always been his strength and he is clearly enjoying the opportunity to extend his creative muscles in a different way to his day job with Marillion.

Title track Gentō is a seven and a half minute standalone piece that begins with an infectious Tangerine Dream style motif that evolves with measured pacing during its first three minutes. Rothery’s contributions are more subtle and nuanced on this track which finds Quaeschning at the forefront. Reeve’s clever stick work fits the mood perfectly and as listeners, we are swept along on the journey. There is a feeling of movement evident throughout the track and of passing through interesting places. This aspect is brought further to life on the cinematic video that accompanies the track which was created by Rothery’s daughter Jennifer. Featuring images of Tokyo - linking the title back to its Japanese origins – it perfectly ties in with the music. The two part Kinetoscope – a title with another reference to early motion pictures – once again makes excellent use of a slow-burning approach as it shifts gears gradually during Part One, including some exquisite keyboard work during its latter half. This lays the groundwork for the pulsating throb of Part Two during which the track launches into full flight.   

Fourth track Bioscope – made up of three movements over almost fifteen minutes – begins with the aura of the ocean. The opening section evokes an aquatic world, its slow lapping motion reminiscent of floating on still seas, redolent of the more ambient parts of Tangerine Dream’s Underwater Sunlight. Three minutes in, it as if we have gently taken flight, like an albatross soaring across the vast expanse. It is understated, yet magnetic, delicate in delivery but utterly immersive. Small intricacies - such as the sound at the five-minute mark of Part One that immediately draws to mind the call of a bird as it flies high above – add shimmers of fragile shadings to the music. Every moment is well considered and, as you might expect, delivered with expertise. The name of the track (and indeed the whole project)  refers to the early name for a movie camera and there is the feeling within the music that something is being wondrously revealed for the first time. Early films must have appeared that way and Bioscope (the track) unfolds like a cinematic reverie, blurring boundaries between memory and imagination.

The album ends with Kaleidoscope - a sensible choice for the first single - which in many ways is the most straightforward of the tracks on offer here. Nonetheless, it is an integral part of the album and adds something completely different to the sonic template that Bioscope have conjured over the previous fifty minutes. It is a joyous, uplifting piece that ends the album with feelings of optimism. There are touches of guitar here that bring to mind Part Two of the Epilogue from Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, albeit the positive feelings remain throughout! Fittingly titled, Kaleidoscope is a radiant swirl of shifting hues and textures, which blends rhythmic vitality, melodic sparkle, emotional lift as Rothery’s guitar dazzles like sunlight through stained glass.

Gentō is a thoughtful and well-crafted collaboration that plays to both artists’ strengths without ever feeling contrived. Being instrumental and partly-based around Quaeschning’s electronic contributions, it leans more consistently towards the territory usually occupied by Tangerine Dream than Marillion but there is plenty for fans of both bands to enjoy. Rothery brings his trademark melodic clarity and spacious phrasing, while Quaeschning contributes atmosphere, structure, and a patient, textural complexity that is unmistakable. Together, they create a shared musical vocabulary - measured, unhurried, and quietly expressive. It is an album that rewards attentive listening but never demands it, allowing its moods to drift and evolve with a natural ease. There are no displays of ego or overwrought gestures - only two experienced musicians trusting in restraint and musical intuition. In doing so, they have produced something understated, immersive, and genuinely enduring.

Gentō is released on 22nd August.