For the first time I encountered the work of Shayan Regan while working on a review of his mini-album “Selene” (2025) – since then his name has firmly established itself on the list of artists whose releases I am genuinely interested in following. And I am doubly pleased to introduce our readers to the artist’s new work, the album “Genesis”, and I will say frankly: this is already a bid for something greater. Alternative pop-rock rooted in the golden era of the seventies, you will agree, looks enticing. However, despite this, the album does not get lost in the shadow of influences. Electric guitar riffs shimmer, the bass holds the groove, vocal harmonies accumulate in layers, psychedelic ornaments add color without overloading the sonic space. The production is analog in spirit, without excessive polish – it is alive and organic.
Yes, an important detail: the album is about love. It erases boundaries, melts reality and sends the mind into an endless cosmos. It is about how one person creates a gravitational field around themselves and how reality slightly deforms when you are irresistibly drawn to someone. The tracks express this literally: they soar, rotate, freeze in psychedelic weightlessness, gather power with heavy drums and polyphony. The album is diverse enough to hold attention, and long enough to be heard as a single statement. I invite you to listen with me to the tracks that touched me the most.
The album begins precisely and expressively with the song “Zero Hour Lunar Phase”. It sounds good, as intended: bright guitar riffs, warm bass lines with a pronounced groove, psychedelia and multi-layered vocals add lightness and density. Everything is tuned to excite and engage the listener. The further development of the album is carried on by “Spaceship L-U-V” – with drive and energy, a kind of tribute to pop music of the 70s, a true vintage. And then something particularly interesting begins – the track “Pink Mars”. An incredibly beautiful ballad. Guitar fuzzes flow smoothly with careful panning across the base. A flowing, singing solo sound. Shayan’s confident, powerful vocals deliver a rich dose of emotions – to the point of goosebumps. Perhaps this is my favorite on the album. And “You’re So Uninviting”, in my opinion, has a very catchy chorus. In general, the artist has not been stingy with such effective pop hooks on the album, so there are a considerable number of memorable songs on it.
And the unreally lush “Callistoa’s Odyssey” and “Galactic” confirm this. Here the excellently recorded drums worked one hundred percent – combined with an abundance of keyboards and all the grandeur of the instrumental set. Shayan’s voice plays with shades, the guitars are saturated with vivid warmth. In the category of potential hits I would also place the excited and touching “Galaxy Of Delights” – performed with cosmic fluidity and textural depth, the song literally calls you to flight, to a galaxy called “Love“. The excited “A World Of Little Worlds” sounds with similar confidence – a multi-layered work where Shayan experiments with intonation and nuances of sound and vocals, demonstrating maturity as a performer and musician.
The recording concludes with the calm song “Lost And Found” – so that everything falls into place. Weightlessly, chord by chord, it drifts between emotional phases: a spark of attraction, the strange gravity of connection, the way reality distorts when you are drawn to another person. I think that in some characteristics the track is the pinnacle of the album (despite being the last on the list): in terms of integrity, richness of sound, saturation, the combination of refinement and whimsy, it sounds with clear precision and the absence of unnecessary complications.
“Genesis” is an excellent album with touches of pop-rock and the spirit of the seventies. Shayan Regan has mixed all these genres into a cocktail that is easily absorbed by generation Z. Even in two-minute tracks and one-minute interludes there is so much meaning and so many changes occur – as if a couple of packets of yeast were poured into the project. Cosmic, many will say, and I will agree, but with one important caveat: not the cold detachment of open space, but a universal breadth firmly rooted in human feelings. Light, atmospheric and captivating, the album does not lose melodic accessibility. And from a purely musical standpoint, this is impeccable work, decisively devoid of weak points. It is just too beautiful – in sound, melodies, and design.
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