THE FINEST OF MIRACLES

The second album of the folk proggers Ciccada came five years after their debut, but it was worth the wait. For starters there were some member changes and, more specifically, the band found a permanent drummer in Yannis Iliakis whereas the bassist Omiros Komninos left the band but he played on three tracks (on Eternal it is the very Johan Brand of Änglagård who did the honour).

Musically, the band carries on more or less along the same lines, in other words rich arrangements featuring a wide pallette of instruments including flute, saxophone, cello, clarinet and a brass quintet. Pretty much like the debut album the band kicks things off with an instrumental song which is also one of my favourites. This is Ciccada's long suit, when they go instrumental they are unbeatable. On the other hand, the "short suit" is the vocals. As always, it's up to someone's taste and if you like them you won't know how you lived so long without them. Anyway, back to music, the guys weave together brilliant and seamless changes that flow naturally like water in the river. Sometimes they are so frequent and dense that the listener has to listen to the album repeatedly so that they can get under their skin. The Finest of Miracles is bookended by the self-titled five-piece suite which is clocking in at over 18 minutes and it's thankfully mostly instrumental with some verses sung in Greek on the last two parts. Probably the highlight in an excellent album.

Fans of folk prog and Jethro Tull, Gryphon Gentle Giant, VDGG shouldn't ignore Ciccada.

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