SPRINGSONG

When you listen to "In The Open Fields", you are immediately plunged into their universe. Just somptuous. A marvel of a melody. I wrote in my review for "Mirror Games" that it was excellent for meditation. I guess that I could say the same here. The main theme reminds me the one of their longest track : "Hostsonaten". The violin adds a great value here (as well as during the whole album).

The theme is also taken over but interpreted differently on the next "Kemper" during its first half. The second half is truely folkish and pastoral. First with a tranquil flute solo and then a very soft violin one. This song will end on a great and inspired guitar break (I guess that the comparison with Latimer can be done here).

Folk atmosphere as well during the short "Living Stone". But the entry of sublime keyboards increase the symphonic flavour. What a great combination ! The format of the songs is much shorter than previously. These are small pieces of music, extremely pleasant but simpler than before. "She Sat Writing Letters On The Riverbank" is a violin / piano duo; almost classical.

"The Underwater" is fully jazzy during its initial phase. Somewhat noisy. It will evolve into a brilliant symphonic song thanks to a wonderful guitar solo. Emotional again. The intro should have been skipped though...Like "Lowtide". Sounds too much as an improvisation to my ears.

The band is right on track again during "The Wood Is Alive With The Smell Of The Rain". Again, a symphonic folk ballad. Very pleasant. The shortest track of this album "Evocation Of Spring In A Fastdance" combines world music and folk. Not too good. And a sort of "hors d'oeuvre" for the closing number ?

The five minutes intro for "Toward The Sea" is radically different with the rest of the album. Very strong and hypnotic rhythm. Very repetitive. Maybe a bit too long. But symphony gets back for a while and the soft and folk music mostly available on this album comes back with some sort of relief.

This album can't be compared to their previous ones. It is strongly influenced by folk music. The addition of a violonist is probably the reason to this. A very pleasant album, once again. Seven out of ten, I would say. Since it is definitely worth more than three stars, I will upgrade my rating to four stars.

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