NIGHT

Dreams are so interesting and odd to me. The idea of journeying to the inner corners of your mind and imagination with no rhyme or reason, yet some form of meaning is something that feels almost like fiction. This real-world phenomenon has been researched from point a to point z, and I feel like we might never get a grasp of what they truly mean due to people's different psyches. Our psychological understanding of what is and isn't, the false truths bleed into dreams and our minds mustn't be deterred from reality or our sanity will go away. In all honesty, I am surprised this phenomenon would make an amazing concept for an album, especially in the realm of progressive rock, but sadly I never see any such a concept explored to its fullest potential. We may get albums where a part is a character's delusions in their minds or being stuck in their mind, but never dreams themselves. There may be two reasons for this. 1. It'd be very hard to pull off effectively. 2. Night by Gazpacho is already a thing, so why attempt what they mastered once in their career?

Gazpacho is a contemporary progressive rock group from the early 2000s. Formed by Jan-Henrik Ohme, Jon-Arne Vilbo, and Thomas Andersen they take a page from the popular, more Radioheadesque art rock of the time, however with their spin on the whole style that is most closely related to Neo progressive rock. Their name comes from the Marillion song off of their Afraid of Sunlight album. At this point in their career they had released 3 albums, Brave, When Earth Lets Go, and Firebird. During this period they experimented and improved on their melancholic sound, utilizing alternative rock atmospheres that allowed them to create a unique, inspired sound. Since their conception they have always been a progressive rock band, however, they never fully smothered deep dished themselves in the bread, sauce, cheese, and grease of the progressive rock pizza. That was until 2007 when the band had created their 50+ minute conceptual piece. This was an album where they fully delved into the concept of dreams, creating one giant song in the process, however, they split it into 5 different songs that all fit together.

Unlike most albums that do something similar to this in the vein where it is one song that is split up (IE Colors or Tower of Silence) where I genuinely feel like each part intertwines in such a way that it makes every part feel essential for the listening experience. However, the fact each part is separated allows this album to never get boring, which I feel is one of the biggest hurdles any band making this kind of album has to go through. It may be one long song but I do not feel as though I ever get bored near the end, or that some parts do not mesh well with others, which were some of my complaints for stuff like Dopesmoker or Mirror Reaper.

The sounds on this album are something to behold. Everything around each part has a consistent theme and leitmotifs that you can notice, which I think is a good thing. I am a sucker for this kind of thing, especially when it comes to leitmotifs. Heck one of my favorite video games is packed brim with leitmotifs, and when it applies to a progressive rock context I am always happy. It is like a fun spotting game where after each song you can have a new motif to search for. While in most cases this would be boring, in the grand scale of the piece these motifs happen fairly rarely, however they happen often enough to fit every piece to this dreamy puzzle. Not only that but the main contributor to this album's greatness is the instrumentation. I just love how it perfectly captures the feelings of dreams and nighttime. The energy that resonates from this album speaks home to the feeling of being in a dream. The strums of the guitar, the drumming, and Ohme's vocal works on this album are the cream of the crop. Speaking of Ohme, his singing is downright beautiful. I cannot express how truly lovely they can get, sometimes to where I feel like he turns into a completely different singer.

Not only is the instrumentation excellent, but so is the emotion that drips off this album. Everything here feels melancholic, and where in some cases I feel like the band is missing out on something greater if they expressed more emotions on the emotional spectrum in their music, I feel like here it works well, since what is the night without the lack of light? The night is the darkest time of each 24 hours, because of this it is befitting for the band to be more melancholic.

What is more melancholic is the entire concept of this piece, which is of course about dreams. While the lyrics feel more like a story about something coming to an end, it is actually about where dreams end and reality begins. It is not simply about dreams as in something our brain conjures up when we sleep, it is about what happens when the dream ends. Where do all those little brain characters go and so forth? Each part does contribute to this narrative in some way, with Dream of Stone and Upside Down being about a blind prince who gets engulfed by the sun; Chequered Light Buildings is about growing so high to go to space; Valerie's Friends is about a girl named Valerie having a nightmare about going to a dangerous party; Massive Illusion being about how dreams end. All such have that intrinsically implemented inconsolable nature the band always loves to pull.

For a progressive rock epic, not only is this a masterpiece, there truly is no other album like it in the grand sea of albums. For anyone who loves that atmospheric, melancholy progressive rock from bands like Marillion, The Pineapple Thief, or even Pink Floyd, this album deserves its highs in spades. An amazing modern progressive rock record deserves its five stars.