DISTANCES

Four years after their excellent debut album Court released a second work called "Distances" featuring less folk and medieval influences and a softer and more refined rock sound that every now and again could remind of Pink Floyd... Here you can find "wider spaces", "purer sounds" and "crimson reveries" in "a cage of beauty and grace"...

"Does my singing live just when someone is enjoying it? / Or maybe it behaves like the wind that blows over seas although there are no leaves to stir? / I say: It lives because someone has lived and sang it... it lives because someone has lived"... After the short instrumental opener "Shantàl (Far)", the hypnotic and melancholic "The Turn I Was Gifted" leads you in a dreamy mood, followed by "Joy" (where rhythm takes off like a "Zeppelin"), "The Spell Of The Rain" and the acoustic instrumental "View Gone"... Words and sounds draw moony soundscapes where acoustic guitars and flutes are in the forefront...Then comes the amazing long and complex epic "Sumptuous Moment", inspired by the poetry of Emily Dickinson, my favourite track on this album, closer to the sound of their previous album where folk influences are blended with a strong classical and romantic flavour. Good also the other epic "Carved Box" and the soft instrumental "Close"... "The box is now closing / With her walk through the time / Kept safe inside...".

On the whole "Distances" is a very good album and it could be an excellent listening for every prog lover... Since the album can be legally downloaded for free from the official website of the band, have a try and judge by yourselves!

The RPI band Court returns with the difficult second album.

I do not know the first album, although it is somewhere in my album collection (it is not a good idea to review this one first, but I thought this was their debut..... STUPID ME). But this album comes across as a good modern RPI pastisj. Unfortunate it has little of the classic RPI sound. Instead, Court seeks their own destiny down the Pink Floyd alley. Well, make that Gazpacho because their sound and music has more in common with this Norwegian band. Then we are also into Marilion and neo-prog land. This album is more neo-prog and AOR than RPI. Add some rather medieval flutes and guitars to the sound and Court has found their own niche I would call medieval neo-prog. That does not make any sense, though......

The quality is pretty good throughout. The music is mostly beautiful and mellow. That's make this album good. My gripes (as usual) is the lack of any real killer tracks which would bring this album to another level. But I really like this medieval stuff here which balances out the neo prog. In short; this is a good album, but nothing more than that.

3 stars