TENDERTON

Oh, I want to know where I can book at least one day and night at this Chateau, where the guitars continuously are soaring into the cloudless sky. It's been a long time ... the recent TENDERTON album, their eponymously named debut, saw the light of day six years ago, has kicked up a bit of dust already. Now the quartet from Oslo is back again surprisingly, and with a real bang for good measure! The line up has remained stable, speaking of Arild Hammerø (guitar), Marius Simonsen (drums), Haakon-Marius Pettersen (keyboards) and Morten Kvam (bass). They are offering five new songs of a proper vinyl length summed up, recorded in 2020, but finally released at the end of April 2022. A rather eclectic progressive rock album, drawing on diverse genre influences, and shifting me into outer spheres when closing my eyes while listening. Where are all these inspirations coming from? I have already listened to thousands and thousands of albums in my life, and trust in you musicians everywhere, thankfully it will probably happen again and again, that something new leaves me really enthusiastic.

Yep, always searching for the elixir of life. We don't know how long and how much they have refined the recorded material, for me this sounds more like a genuine adhoc live in the studio result anyhow. 'The Chateau' offers a beautifully crafted flow, a homogenous sound for sure. I immediately thought of the band K'mono being somewhat similar in sound. Considering the album constitution a Cat is hurrying up, but doesn't show the claws actually, jumping back and forth, full of joie de vivre. Yeah, we are in a French speaking region obviously. A fantastic start, this is purely instrumental by the way (nearly). Prog fans really get their money's worth furthermore, including the use of the melancholic Mellotron. Man, it sounds like a masterpiece of progressive rock, but I hesitate to act inflationary in this case. 4.5 stars for now assigned to this wonderful happening, virtually taking place somewhere in France most likely.