-C-

I'm wondering why this album is so underrated on PA and I think there may be mainly two reasons. The first is that it effectively requires more than one "careful" listen; the second is probably the fact that the band is included in the neo-prog subgenre and this can be misleading. There's nothing of Marillion, IQ or even Flower Kings in this EP. The dissonances can remind to the King Crimson but I don't think that this is the biggest influence.

After some more listens I've been able to appreciate this EP, and let me say that if you look at the Wyndham Hill catalog just as example, you can find "Full Albums" with the same length.

It opens with an impressive jazzy bass riff on "ThePearlSong" coming from the land of Pekka Pohjola. The EP proceeds with a Floydian, or better Gilmourian slow song. I mention Dave Gilmour not as guitarist but for the kind of songwriting of "On An Island".

I don't understand the rationale of putting 30 seconds fillers, but in the middle of two fillers we have the best album's song: "Slolee" with its dissonances and a King Crimson flavor.

This is an album that I took some time to enjoy, but it's worth a listen. I didn't pay attention to the lyrics, so I don't know what the songs are about, but this mixture of jazzy sounds, dissonances and pop-like melodies is quite unique. "Prison4" is an example of what I mean. Radiohead fans can probably enjoy more "Crawlin'Nation", even if can't be called a Radiohead song.

I honestly think it deserves at least the status of "good album" so I'm rating it with 3 stars. If you are going to give it a try, don't stop at the first impression. It takes a while to grow.