iNFiNiEN Light at the Endless Tunnel Review by Gary Hill
This is the new album from these guys. They are an incredibly creative act. Their sound is such a big mix of things. You will find lots of jazz, prog rock and world music here. The music changes incredibly frequently, and it's often a bit hard to keep up with those changes. This is music that's decidedly left-of-center, but also very cool.
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Track by Track Review
Brand New
Starting with some guitar based prog jamming, this works to something more like fusion from there. As the vocals join it becomes something like a jazzy version of Curved Air. There is a mellow drop back section as it works forward. The Curved Air references are more prominent in some of the mellower sections in this number. The piece is complex and quite dynamic with a number of diverse movements built into it.
Aya Funky world music opens this. The cut works forward from there to more of a left-of-center rock based jam. This has plenty of fusion in the mix, too. I just love the bass work on this thing. In some ways I'm reminded of Primus on parts of this number. This cut gets a definite parental advisory for these lyrics. Again this is very dynamic. It has a lot of different flavors built into it.
Oasis
Perhaps a bit more mainstream, this has a lot of energy. It's quite jazzy in a lot of ways and very melodic. It's a lot less dynamic.
Off the Tracks Weird pounding jamming opens this feeling perhaps a bit like a cross between King Crimson and The Residents. As it works through varying sections, this has some really powerful music built into it. It wanders near to metal at times. It also drops to piano and voice segment. As unpredictable and strange as this gets, it's also compelling. I dig the organ based jam later in the cut, and particularly the guitar sounds that rise up from there. It turns into such a killer prog rock jam as it drives forward.
Bottom of the Food Chain Sound effects start this, and piano joins. That piano leads the jazzy arrangement to serve as the backdrop for the vocals. The changes on this are much less abrupt, but the cut really grows from the mellower, jazzy sections to more hard rocking and rather crazed prog textures.
Light at the Endless Tunnel Frantic prog rock jamming opens the title track. As this thing works forward we get some real klesmer styled stuff in the mix. Yet it also works out to some pretty freaky louder prog. They drop it to some psychedelia, too. This is one of the most dynamic cuts here, though. If you don't like where it is, just wait. It will change very quickly. This has a little bit of everything, really.
Love for Yourself The opening of this seems to do a great job of combining jazz with classical music. As it works forward from there we get some healthy helpings of world music in the mix, too. This is a bit more constant and directly melodic than some of the others. It has enough changes to keep it from becoming staid.
Worth the Wait Prog rock and fusion are merged together on this ever shifting jam. At a little less than three minutes in length, this is actually one of the shortest cuts here. It's one of the more constant, too. The vocals come in over the top late, sort of floating above the musical concepts.
If I Were a Song The shortest piece here, this is just over a minute and a half long. This is very much an old school jazz styled number with some classical elements at play.
If You Were a Song This comes out of the previous piece with a jam that makes me think of something from the Trevor Rabin era of Yes. It works through some changes as it grows. Perhaps a bit more mainstream than some of the rest of the music here, this is still decidedly prog rock and quite dynamic. It has a lot of turns as it makes its way through its length. There is some definite psychedelia built into this at times.
Existence Parts of this are heavily built around a combination of world music and jazz. Other sections lean much harder on pure prog rock. There is some particularly cool bits of bass work at times on this cut. I love the vocal arrangement, too. This is a killer cut that's especially effective. In fact, it's one of my favorites here.
