Artur U & the New City Limits Holiday From Eternity Review by Gary Hill
There is quite a bit of jam band sound in the mix here. It also has some space music. There are other things, too, like vintage soul. Most everything here is pretty effective. The main problem is, after a while it starts to sound the same.
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2015 Volume 2 at lulu.com/strangesound.
Track by Track Review
Another Day
High energy and hard edged, this is melodic at the same time. It’s got a great groove to it.
Back Inside the Shell Jam band sounds are the basis of the bulk of this piece. That said, it works out to some rather space rock like stuff at times. This isn’t as well developed as the opener and not as effective.
Monkey House
The mix of jam band and space music is more prominent here. This is a stronger piece than the last one, but the whole thing is starting to get monolithic by even this early point. Still, this has a catchy hook and some good moments.
Elevator The keyboards on this lend some variety. It’s also a more high energy track. Still, it’s suffering from the lack of variety.
On a Holiday
Taken by itself, this is a good song. It’s just that the formula is really wearing thin by this point.
Wind A slower song, that lends some definite variety. It has a rather soulful, retro sound to it, too. This is one of the highlights in part because of the variance in sound and tempo. It’s a cool groove with some bluesy moments.
Mechanical Dream
Somehow this reminds me of Hawkwind a bit. It’s definitely got a hard rocking space sound to it. It’s one of the strongest cuts here, too.
No Need to Wave I like the slide guitar on this. That manages to bring this one up from the bulk of the rest. It really manages to weave some melody throughout the tune really. This segues into the next one.
White Horses Keyboard sounds bring this in and the piece builds out from there. It definitely gets caught in the monolithic territory, though.
The Secret There aren’t any big changes here. This song, by itself is good. It’s just too much like the rest.
