AMOEBA SPLIT

This three song demo from Amoeba Split showcases their style, which happens to be a fine throwback to the glory days of the Canterbury Scene. The songs here are all airy, jazzy pieces, with tasteful keyboards, flute and sax.

Since this is a demo recording, I'll forgive the rough production, especially since all three songs can be heard in more final versions (from their full album) on their website. Blessed Water has a bit of a symphonic sound, before the Pink Floyd-like smooth sax solo steals the show. Turbulent Matrix is more of a traditional light fusion jam, with a melody that reminds me a bit of Miles Davis' So What. And Perfumed Garden begins with a sort of Henry Cow-ish segment, before settling down to a more traditional Canterbury sound.

These versions are not bad, but I'd recommend searching for the polished versions on the full album.

Out of the ashes of the Psychedelic band Rama Lama FaFaFa was born Amoeba Split in 2001, hailing from the Galician grounds of A Coruna in the North-Western part of Spain.The aim of the new sextet was to play in the vein of Classic 70's Prog, however the addition of flutes and sax gave them a strong jazzy/Canterbury flavor in the process.In February 2003 the band released a self-produced self-titled EP, clocking at half an hour length.

This short release is divided into 3 tracks, around 10 minutes each, with all lyrics sung in English by female singer/flutist María Toro.The opening ''Blessed water'' has some light 70's Canterbury feeling, being a long and somewhat abstract composition, based on Ricardo Castro's piano but also offering smooth sax and flute solos along with the fiery organ towards the end and the sensitive voice of Toro.''Turbulent Matrix'' follows more or less the same vein, very calm instrumental jazzy prog with more flute and sax in evidence to go along with some electric guitars, bass and drum solos throughout in a semi-abstract arrangement with light SOFT MACHINE and CARAVAN touches.With ''Perfumed Garden'' the band adds some more energy to their sound, the organ of Castro is now the leading instrument and the track is the more progressive by far with numerous breaks, even some flamenco guitars appear at the beginning, with also a nice closing section with organ,piano and guitars combined in a great way.

Amoeba Split's first effort is a good one, especially if you are into the jazzy side of Progressive Rock, without being that impressive.The performance is tight but very careful and mellow- sounding, holding though all the right elements of the progressive genre.Recommended.