MEETING POINT

This is a very fresh instrumental album from Norway's Pymlico. Compared to the more eclectic nature of most releases coming out of their country lately, Pymlico take a more relaxed approach towards composing. They deliver riff-heavy jazz-rock with saxophones and bass being upfront, creating a rather funky atmosphere, in the opening ''Crab Key'' and ''Second Rate Punk''. This is not done in the expense of melody, which is mostly exhibited through Hvinden's guitar solos and Broter's keyboards in the vein of Bearfish.

The middle part of the album (Broken Glass, Iris, First Light) is much more low-tempo, in the vein of Airbag, with keyboard/piano leading the melodies, layered solos and selective use of saxophones. Things pick up again in ''NOL861613060'', a much-more Neo-Prog tinted tune which reminded me strongly of RPWL's distorted mid-speed riffs. ''Lucy Does not Approve'' is the most cinematic of all, with a characteristic 80's keyboard theme, coming out of Pendragon's best themes but coloured with exceptional sax interventions. ''Erised'' is the epitome of variation, displaying influences from Ozric Tentacles to Arena.

This is indeed a 'meeting point' of many influences and trends, from Neo-Prog to funk-rock, pop, modern jazz-rock, with ambient and cinematic intervals all blending nicely in the 40+ minutes of the album. Still, wind instruments do the magic here and add the extra spice to the underlying good and accessible musical patterns, and make this a very good album.

3.5 stars