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Self-released – 2013
Well, where to start with this one? There are just so many good things going on and so many influences here that it’s difficult to pin down exactly where it’s coming from.
A simple distillation would be a neo/traditional progressive rock tour de force played by an English/Swedish combo who sound like a female-fronted amalgam of Yes, Focus, King Crimson and Genesis with a side-order of Jethro Tull and All About Eve.
There, I’ve done it.
Of all these influences, the strongest is the Yes/Focus combination with Thomas Johnson’s keyboard work eerily similar to Thijs van Leer and Phil Mercy’s exceptional guitar work casting more than a just a nod in the direction of Steve Howe.
This, of course, is no bad thing as the band have absorbed all these musically diverse influences into a cohesive whole which, when added to the sweetly jazzy vocals of Amy Darby, pushes them forward as one of the more interesting and idiosyncratic bands out there.
Be warned though – it’s not an easy listen.
Of the seven tracks only two clock in at less than seven minutes and the two major epics ‘Germander Speedwell’ and ‘Of Sparks And Spires’ exceed twelve minutes apiece. But stick with it as the album’s treasures reveal themselves over the course of a few listens to be things of real substance and beauty.
Plaintive piano and delicately strummed acoustics sit alongside the odd pounding riff and searing solo to stunning effect which, combined with exceptional musicianship and an almost poetic libretto, lift the album to a significant high.
The album’s sheer eclecticism may discourage some listeners, but if you like your music just that little bit different, edgy and intense this is surely manna from heaven.
****
Review by Alan Jones
Alan sequences “The Eclectic Mix” third Sunday of the month on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio
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