If you are a fan of spacey progressive rock like early Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree, etc., you’ll love this one. It’s got a lot of the elements of that type of sound and yet is original and unique, too. It’s quite a strong set.
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2009 Volume 5 at lulu.com/strangesound.
Track by Track Review
Chrysalis The sounds of a scratched record open this. An organ sound rises up from there. We get an almost electronic dance groove added to the mix as something that sounds a bit like theremin glides over the top. The cut grows out from there in style, combining electronic prog, electronica and jazz into something really special. The vocals come over the top of that lending another layer. I can definitely make out some old school psychedelia here, too. Early Pink Floyd is a definite reference point.
Bliss Continuing many of the musical themes from the first cut, this is more spacey. It’s got a Pink Floyd meets Porcupine Tree kind of texture to it. It moves out into pure space for a while before ending.
Still Life There is more of a mellow groove to this. At times I can hear some hints of Native American sounding music, too. It’s a purely instrumental number.
A Trick of the Light Even more spacey, flute and what I think is theremin and the sounds of nature combine in a piece of music that’s a little creepy and very much along the lines of early Pink Floyd. This is another instrumental.
Azimuth / Menadel Over ten and a half minutes in length, this is the largest cut on show here. Elements much like the previous track start things off here. This grows up in a “Careful With That Axe Eugene” kind of way. Gentle understated vocals come over the top as this continues to build. Around the five and a half minute mark it drops way down and a harp takes over as the sounds of nature – and later other pretty musical motifs – accompany. It builds up from this basis, creating the second half of the piece with keyboards waving over the top of the music here. This latter section is fully instrumental.
Organo Rather understated, this instrumental has theremin running all over the top of it. It’s got a great groove and is very cool. In fact, this is one of my favorite pieces here.
Borealis Beginning with satellite type sounds, this is spacey music that at times reminds me of Hawkwind and at times of early Pink Floyd. It’s also another instrumental.
The Glitter Odd This starts a lot like the opening piece, in terms of the scratched record, but becomes the most purely atmospheric and strange instrumental on the whole set. It’s a cool number and while I wouldn’t recommend something like this to close most albums, it works really well in that regard here.
