PACHA / PÖRSTI: SEA OF MIRRORS

4,5 stars! The second PACHA & PÖRSTI album makes it crystal clear that their Fenno-Spanish collaborative partnership is a perfect match. Of course we have already learned this fact from earlier albums they have worked together, but here everything is in balance and they truly supplement each other's creativity. Kimmo, a brilliant producer and drummer with good skills on other instruments too, and a very fine and sincere composer, if slightly less prolific in it than Rafael, who in addition is a first class prog/folk oriented multi-instrumentalist with emphasis on stringed and wind instruments. The icing on the cake are the well chosen guests.

This one-hour album has ten tracks, each having solid musical substance and beauty. Most of it is instrumental, so all the more rewarding are the few exceptions featuring vocalists. The beautiful opener 'Sailor's Tale' (RP, KP) features wordless singing by Laura Pörsti. 'Diving into Infinity' is sung by Paula Pörsti. Kimmo's gentle but dynamically progressive composition nicely reminds me of his past activities (Mist Season, Paidarion).

'Tara's Joy...' is a genuine Rafael Pacha piece with a rich folk-flavoured arrangement. He wrote also the song 'The Island of Lotus-Eaters' sung by Laura Pörsti, and the delicate instrumental 'Charybdis' where the piano is played by Alessandro Di Benedetti. There's a hint of Wind & Wuthering era Genesis.

The album's instrumental title track (KP, RP) is graced by Marek Arnold's sensitive sax. Pacha's composition 'Fascination' is a 9-minute prog song with Peter Gabriel-esque vocals of Alejandro Suarez, although the best moments in it are IMHO instrumental spots for synths, soprano sax, zyther etc.

Rafael's instrumental piece 'Lead, Silver...' has Camel- like melodicism and his 'Shipwreck' progresses from early Mike Oldfield folkiness to a deliberate VdGG hommage (as I presume) with Olli Jaakkola's sax riffs. The final piece is another beautiful and delicate Kimmo Pörsti composition in three brief parts, the first one with lyrics sung by Paula. This is a true labour-of-love album easy to enjoy, better than the previous Pörsti & Pacha collaboration.

The reason I choose to round my 4,5 stars upwards is the gorgeous and lavish visual art by Kimmo Heikkilä, especially in the booklet. Anyone who says that the CD format killed the visual side of albums should think again!