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Ian Narcisi

Feel No Evil

Review by Gary Hill

What an intriguing EP this is. It focuses essentially on modern progressive rock sounds, but runs the gamut between space rock, hard-edged metallic prog and other sounds throughout. The instrumentation, arrangements and vocals all work exceptionally well, making this an awesome disc.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2011  Volume 5 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review
Dust of You

Catchy and compelling, there are intriguing layers of sound bringing the prog into play. Noisy guitar plays in melodic ways. It works out to slow moving, melodic modern progressive rock. It turns out to nearly metallic motifs later in a killer jam. It becomes more melodic again down the road, but there is some seriously killer guitar soloing before that change. The return of the mellower is simply for the outro.

Little Bit
There’s a hard edge to this, but the overall musical concept is melodic. It’s like a dark and somewhat heavy modern melodic progressive rock cut. It works through a number of sections, but all the changes seem organic and natural.
Just Because
Now, this cut focuses on the literal meaning of progressive rock. It’s quite progressive and original. There’s a stripped down, almost soulful groove at times. Other sections are louder and more lush with a real textural approach. The vocal arrangement is unique and cool. This is a dynamic cut with a lot of different musical concepts at play. Yet, it never fails to entertain. A section later is closer to something from modern King Crimson. Later we hear a cool keyboard solo.
Stargazer
A cool vocal arrangement opens this and the track turns exploratory from there. It’s got a really intriguing atmospheric sound. There’s almost a reggae beat later. This is very much a space rock tune, both in musical concepts and lyrical elements. After a time it turns out into sounds that seem to be reaching upwards. It gets considerably complex and intricate later and layers of vocals work across in a killer arrangement. There’s a real mysterious, cosmic texture to the music, too.
Sparkle and Shine
There’s a Latin air to this and a real soaring progressive rock sound. It calls to mind Yes at times, but the Latin guitar and cool keyboards bring a world music turned space rock element to the table. This is a great piece of music that is another that seems to be reaching upward. Then later it becomes more hard rocking. Perhaps Spock’s Beard is an appropriate reference to that section.
 
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