On Not Even Close, his first solo album since 2005, Pierre Vervloesem plays everything — and everything turns out to be machines, save for a few vocals he and Michèle Vervloesem take care of. The man has often been referred to as “the Belgian Frank Zappa,” but he rarely deserved that title as much as on this album. Not Even Close is strongly reminiscent of Zappa’s experiments with the Synclavier, especially the latter, less clinical ones: the tunes are whimsical, extremely busy and dense, square in the way they are programmed but not even close to being in square four-to-the-bar form. Surprise synth solos and unexpected wordless vocal ditties pop up, using childlike humor to liven up the complex concoctions.