MOGADOR

Mogador began life in 2007 on the Lake Como on the initiative of Richard George Allen (drums vocals). The first line up was completed by Luca Briccola (piano, keyboards, flute), Stefano Lago (guitars) and Paolo Pigni (bass, acoustic guitar, vocals). The musicians started to rehearse in a tie factory and named their band Mogador, as the ancient name of the Moroccan port of Essaouira that gave its name to a tie cloth that is a mix of silk and cotton. According to their website the same idea of mixing is reflected in the influences on Mogador's style since the individual members of the band enjoy all kinds of music from progressive rock to folk, to fusion and classical. In 2009 they released a first interesting self produced eponymous album. It's a kind of conceptual work inspired by the four elements and was recorded in a non professional home-studio. The lyrics are in English and the overall sound of the album recalls the early Genesis... Well, despite the poor recording means the result is not bad at all.

There is a short opener that sets the atmosphere and introduces the subject matter with narrative vocals, "Ab imis fundamenti". It leads to "The Salamander", a track inspired by fire, the fire of passion... "There's a fire that I burn / When I desire, when I yearn...". The second track, "The Tide's Undertow" was inspired by water and deals with some environmental issues, exalting water for the dangerous strength of its rage and its priceless value for life... "We all can feel water's primal force / And one day she'll call us all back out sea / We all exist in the dread and the fear / That one day we'll live the tide's undertow...". Then comes "Tell Me Smiling Child", one of the two tracks with no relation with the elements of the concept. It's a short piece for piano and voice featuring lyrics taken from a poem by Emily Bronte...

"Mammon's Greed" was inspired by earth and takes us back to the concept and its pastoral mood... "Take courage dear friends and we'll find the way / Hope never ends to see that perfect day / When Earth and Man live as one...". Next comes the other track non related to the elements, the short acoustic guitar driven "Solitary Bench ? An Alchemy", my favourite on this work... "There is a place that nobody knows / Where I sit alone on a solitary bench... Like a grain of sand changes into a pearl / I change too... Like an alchemist I turn my lead into gold...". "Floating In The Void", the piece inspired by air, and the instrumental symphonic outro "Omnia mutantur, nihil interit" conclude the album. By the way, the beautiful art cover reproduces a painting by Johan Christian Clausen Dahl titled "Vesuvius Erupting" where you can see all the elements. In my opinion it depicts in some way the content of the music as well...

Italian band from Como, born in 2007 out of an ad at a local studio placed by drummer/singer Richard George Allen.This way he met with multi-instrumentalist Luca Briccola and guitarist Stefano Lago, while Briccola brought in his friend Paolo Pigni to take over the bass duties.Two years later (and after tons of rehearsals in a tie/scarf factory!!!) Mogador debuted with their self- produced self-titled album.

Mogador played some sort of modern Progressive Rock with vintage-influenced structures akin to bands like MARS HOLLOW, GLASS HAMMER or UNITOPIA.While the tracks are not that long, the structures are tight with a fair dose of surprises and a quite rich sound, albeit far from original.The guitars get occasionally a heavier touch and along with the sharp synth work of Briccola are the main components of the music, based on some fast paces, expressive and crunchy vocals and interesting solos.However the second part of the album is much more interesting and contains a couple of delicate acoustic pieces close to early GENESIS with a sweet atmosphere, while Briccola adds some elegant flute work and more prominent piano themes next to his overall decent synth passages in a couple of others.There is even some apparent 70's vibe in the longest track ''Floating in the Void'' with the strong time signatures and the sound of organ, while the closer ''Omnia mutantur, nihil interit'' has an evident Classical/Electronic approach.

The first tracks show a band capable of playing some decent Progressive Rock, the last ones though show even greater aspects and a huge potential.Recommended.