MOMENTS

IOEarth is a band that has been receiving quite a bit of attention in the progressive rock community as of late. Although I had heard of them as early as 2009 when they came out with the official debut, I am catching onto this band's music on this, their second time through. With that in mind, I cannot say if whether it is a major stylistic development from their first record, but IOEarth are no strangers to ambition on 'Moments'.

Spanning an hour, the band plays a style that I might label as 'ambient rock', with fairly spacious compositions, rarely drawing out the big amplifiers, but throwing the listener enough dramatic climaxes to keep the music engaging. My first impression of 'Moments' was how laid-back it was, and not in the typical sense that conjures imagery of bands noodling on their instruments in a drug-induced glaze. IOEarth take a very mature approach to this more mellowed out sound, and while the compositions themselves may not be eventful, there is always a welcoming depth to the arrangements. The writing favours use of repetition to get its point across, but it's through the layering of different instruments and lush orchestration where IOEarth makes their mark.

Throughout 'Moments', I get the impression that the music of IOEarth may be best suited for the cinematic world. It may be a little much on the side of ambient for some proggers to enjoy on its own, but with the way some of these pieces soar, I could easily associate it with a hypothetical film sequence of equal artistic merit. To get across this 'ambient' direction, IOEarth use sounds from a number of different cultures, both Western and non-Western. Coupled with the use of both male and female voices, I don't think it's absurd that I am often reminded of the Australian world music act Dead Can Dance when hearing the band. The vocals here do not deliver melodic hooks that are overtly 'catchy' (as one may derive from the 'ambient' tag), but I found scarce a minute here where the voices did not compliment the instrumental arrangement, whether it was a symphonic approach, or Middle-Eastern jig. Spicing up a few passages is some lead guitar playing that sounds reminiscent of Steve Vai or Joe Satriani; an 'instrumental rock guitar' approach that admittedly sounds a little out- of-place when compared with the rest of the product. Regardless, 'Moments' delivers plenty of powerful ideas, and while I may not cry 'masterpiece' as some do for IOEarth's latest output, there is a great deal of power and potential to this group that is well worth a listener's exploration.

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