U.K. keyboardist, composer and recording artist Paul K. turned the New Age Rock music scene on its collective ear with two of his recent compact disc releases Omerta (2017) and The Fermi Paradox (2018), while also reconsidering his 2016 work with the contemporary glam-rock band Glitch Code that was also critically acclaimed. Paul’s 2019 album Reconstructed Memories, released digitally at first, was recorded partly in honor of his Father’s passing. That said, there’s a whole different, completely renewed sonic focus on the 2020 Paul K CD Anandamide. The music of Paul K. has always been haunting within a progressive framework, sometimes bordering on fantasy, sometimes historically significant as in The Fermi Paradox. More personal in scope, yet combining the sonic drive of his best signature music, Anandamide finds Paul K in a reflective mood, and of all the crazy things writing, recording and releasing an album of electronic keyboard-based music during the historic pandemic of 2020, which is ongoing and now in its tenth month. Paul admits that Anandamide was inspired by the life-changing events of the Covid 19 lockdown period, while infusing ideas inspired by spirituality, the human condition, coexistence and the fragility of life. The challenges involved in writing and recording music during a life-changing pandemic notwithstanding, Anandamide is Paul K music, marked by his signature arrangements and production skills, all performed on piano and synth keyboards by Paul K. With so many sonic elements swirling in the mix, Anandamide is a noteworthy spin for progressive rock fans that might tune in a different kind of instrumental music concept album. A spooky soundtrack for the crazy pandemic era will that will be with us at least until the end of 2020 and into 2021 too, Anandamide further pushes the digital envelope with several eye-popping video clips released during the Fall of 2020. Both Omerta and The Fermi Paradox featured large scale instrumental prog-rock arrangements with Paul backed up by a number of musicians and, while Anandamide paints a more intimate, close-up and detailed picture of Paul K. as a true solo artist, it is just as valid and sonically appealing as both Omerta and The Fermi Paradox. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, the plague and challenges of 2020 will be extinguished to history and the human race will learn something from this episode. But, providing it all goes the right way, I’m certain that the music of Paul K’s Anandamide will have a much longer shelf life than this pandemic. An audio documentary based on previously inconceivable, yet totally true-life experiences, Paul K’s Anandamide is a chilling sonic journey into the seething underbelly of modern-day electronica.