Album Review: Computer Nerd – 20,000 Years & Still Going Strong

Computer Nerd takes a bit of game culture, a bit of Poe, and a lot of Off-Broadway and prog rock to take us on a journey through time.

Chris James Bush – aka Computer Nerd – has assembled a mighty cast of collaborators on an album that partially follows the structure of a Broadway musical, but on tracks that can occasionally clock in at ten minutes.

I Never Die / Ages Pass / Still Life sees Computer Nerd hit the ground running, as lyrics reminiscent of Rent or Company are paired with an epic guitar solo and an explosive drum performance that don’t seem to lose steam for even a second, at least until the change in tone around the seven-minute mark. It feels inspired by the work of Jonathan Larson, Stephen Sondheim, and Genesis – all the while reflecting on the passing of time and loved ones in a way that is quietly genius.

Jazzy signatures and urgent vocals dominate the opening minutes of No Reason / Code Blue / Revolution 90125 / Out of Reach, the lyrics nodding to history – or maybe gaming motifs – by means of a passionate duet. You can hear passing shades of Steely Dan here at times; no surprise, as he has teamed up here with musicians that have worked with that iconic band in the past.

The Other Side of You is where Steely Dan meets Broadway via Sondheim, preparing the listener for what may come, partially working as a confessional, delicate and emotionally exposing to a staggering degree. The final song of the first act, Give Me Time, is and emotional tour de force, allowing the vocals to sell the song, the arrangement sensitively structured around it, until it arrives at its barnstorming crescendo.

It’s when you get to Tundra / The Snare / FUTRA®’s Lament, a mini-opera of its own, the scale of the album suddenly feels both intimate and cosmic, pushing the story of the album along as it does so.

There are so many Easter eggs on the album, so many blink-and-you’ll-miss-it snippets that you’ll recognise in the lyrics and arrangements, that spelling them out here would take some of its beauty and emotional resonance away.

But I will say that as the album reaches its narrative climax with Still… Life, I couldn’t help but think of the best works of Ayreon, Yes, and Lin-Manuel Miranda – great tales told with passion by an impressively talented cast.

20,000 Years & Still Going Strong works over an unimaginably large canvas, from the last Ice Age to the modern days of AI and digitisation of our lives. But as Bush says on the album, ‘the more things change, the more they change the same,’ even in the face of another Ice Age.  

You can download 20,000 Years & Still Going Strong on Bandcamp, where it’s also available in CD format. Check out Computer Nerd on Instagram to hear more about the album and watch some of his hilarious comedic short videos.