ARE YOU WATCHING CLOSELY?

I could see these guys fitting the modern progressive folk label given their liberal use of fretless and acoustic instruments along with plenty of amped-up percussion and synthesizers to crank out what really sounds like melodic, internationally influenced prog rock. Then again I could just as easily see them in post-rock thanks to their blend of artsy guitar crescendos ala Explosions in the Sky or Don Caballero, and the creepy synth riffs that seem to waft all the way back to the early post-rock days of Flying Saucer Attack and Bark Psychosis.

As far as I know all three of the band's albums are only available on some self-released label, and the best way to get them is in the form of downloads. In fact I've never actually seen a physical CD of any of their records, but according to their website store you can actually buy a hard copy of you're so inclined.

The instrumentation for this trio is pretty interesting, consisting of a fretless guitar (pretentious, but well-played I must admit); something called a "chaturangui" that is also fretless and looks like a Rickenbacker guitar that got tricked out by some guy from India; a rhythm section of sorts consisting of drums and electric bass; and various recorded music and sound samples. That's about it. So not generally the sort of instruments that would make you think of prog folk except that the chaturangui keeps drawing me back to that connection, along with some of the recorded samples like what sounds to be a tortured violin midway through "Prophet for Profit" and what comes off all the world like the soundtrack to an English folktale titled "Order of the Triad". So in the end I'm left a bit confused and thinking there may be more of a connection between post-rock and prog folk than I ever assumed before. Note to self to check that out.

Anyway this is a pretty cool album, although after listening to it like five times I still can't quite figure out what these guys are all about. Clearly they have a focused direction to their music which sounds at times like embellished math rock and at other times like jazz students who finally realized that jazz is boring. Regardless, the music is engaging, energetic, modern and dynamic and I'm not sure what more you could want in a contemporary prog rock band. I'm still picking my way through their latest album so don't quite have a solid picture of the band yet, but hope to soon. In the meantime I'll say this is a very solid three star effort and something I suspect almost any modern prog-rock fan would appreciate, with the possible exception of folks who only like their prog-rock of the metal variety; otherwise, check these guys out and I doubt you'll be disappointed.

peace