DANZA URBANA

It is always a pleasure to me when I review albums from my country, because I feel proud of the bands that are willing to create original and good music, and of course, willing to gain recognition here and all over the world, that is why the least I can do to help them is reviewing their music. This time the turn is for Govea, a trio composed by Salvador Govea on keyboards, Luis Arturo Guerrero on bass and Victor Valdovinos on drums (who sadly has left the band). So they gathered together a couple of years ago and created this first album entitled "Danza Urbana".

The first thing that caught my attention was precisely the name of Valdovinos, which is one of the best drummers I have ever known, he is the leader of Iconoclasta, an iconic Mexican prog band. Well, so then I decided to get this album and now I am happy with it. So "Danza Urbana" features seven compositions and a total time of 40 minutes.

It kicks off with "Danza Urbana", drums and bass first and seconds later keyboards appear and put the mood and the colours; worth mentioning that this band does not features guitars, so go figure. The communication between the instruments is wonderful, they start talking to each other until they create an intimate relationship that can be listened almost every moment.

"Continuum" is the shortest composition here. It starts with some bass lines and then keyboards appear, later drums join and the three of them begin to build up a structure. This song has very nice short passages, and the mixture of diverse keyboards make it good.

"Claroscuro" has a dark sound, atmospheric keyboards and bass for the first minute. Later changes, the dark feeling is still there but now the keyboards add new elements and textures, so there are different moods and emotions in a single song. Here you can fully appreciate the band's compositional skills that will make the listener enjoy what is listening to. I love that this is an instrumental band, first class symphonic prog with some avant-garde hints.

"Convergentes" is a happy song, full of sympathy that may put a smile on you. There are classical elements here, but later the band surprises us with a rockier sound, thanks to the apparition of a guest electric guitar played by Luis Octavio Cervantes. After four minutes there is a new change in the song, keyboards appear but now with a fusion style, bass and drums accompanying it, all create a calm but delicious sound.

"Falsa Dicotomía" follows a little bit that fusion style implemented in the previous track. The track is composed very intelligently, I mean, things are not that easy, but they manage to create a sound in which it seems to be easy, but well, the three of them are trained and talented musicians, so three prodigy minds together can't help but creating wonderful things.

"Intersecciones" is like the Salvador Govea solo track. Piano-based song with nice figures and textures that willmake you have a nice time. Though I honestly prefer the three-piece songs, this solo track has its great moments.

And finally "Concertino", which is an extraordinary arrangement of the "1st movement of concertino for organ and orchestra" composed by Miguel Angel Bernal Jiménez. The sound here reminds me of ELP and also some Italian symphonic bands of the 70s. Govea uses those old elements and translate it to the actual scene, so we can appreciate some kind of new-retro-prog.

What a great debut of Govea, a new reason for me to be proud about Mexican progressive rock. I strongly recommend it especially for those who like symphonic instrumental prog. My final grade will be four stars.

Enjoy it!

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