FIRST LIGHT

Farpoint could be described as Mostly Autumn's cousins from the American south. Like MA they play a melodic mixture of Celtic folk and prog, and distribute vocal duties among a male and female vocalist. Yet they really don't sound that similar. Farpoint seems to have a wider variety of musical influences and lyrically tend to the Christian as opposed to the more earthy spiritual, which perhaps contributes to a someone naive quality in this debut. While the jagged edges do smooth out in later releases, this innocence remains a characteristic of the Farpoint sound.

One of the highlights is "Words of Pain", in which the flute playing of Dana Oxendine shines over the acoustic guitar, before she releases the flute and treats us to an engagingly melancholy vocal performance. Like many bands that feature masculine and feminine vox, I do love it when they sing together or share duties in the same song, an event which doesn't happen nearly often enough. As a result, I really lap up tunes like "Long Slow Journey", which seems to nod a bit compositionally to "All Along the Watchtower". Clarke Boone's raspy friendly voice contrasts pleasantly with Oxendine's more ethereal delivery. The heavy folk instrumental "Tartans" conjures the British Isles traditions of South Carolina. To conjure up a reference more obscure than the artist, it reminds me of some of guitarist Paul Brett's late 1970s instrumentals. "Ex-Animo" is quite the opposite, a delicate ode on acoustic guitar and piano.

Not everything here is up to the same quality. Later albums would be a bit more consistent but this is still a surprisingly strong debut.

FARPOINT were found in 1997 in Sumter,South California, when guitarist/keyboardist Kevin Jarvis and drummer Rick Walker joined their forces,soon to be supported by female singer Dana Oxendine.The band even paricipated at the 98' Yescamp,covering several YES songs with Don Fink on bass,Michelle Wakler on keyboards and Carl Boone on male vocals,later to become a stable member of FARPOINT.In 2000 they release a limited edition single with two songs,this time with Frank Tyson on basses.Both Rick and Michelle Walker would also quit,with two members jumping on board: Jonathan Rodriguez on drums and Mike Avins on guitars.With this line-up FARPOINT release ''First light'' in 2002 as a private press.

In ''First light'' the love of FARPOINT both for Folk music and Progressive/Art Rock are more than evident.Do not expect something overly complicated,although the album contains several YES- like chord progressions.The overall atmosphere is quite soft and dreamy, with the typical rock instrumentation exchanging with a heavy amount of acoustic and 12-string guitars from song to song.The rockier songs have some good instrumental parts with bluesy guitars and the rhythm section on the front,while keyboards and a few piano parts are mostly used as background instrument.Add to these elements the intense typical American voice of Boone,resulting some decent art rock musicianship with a rural edge.Several tracks though contain acoustic passages in a ballad style, accompanied by soft keys and hailed by the magnificent and sensitive voice of Dana Oxendine,who raises my emotions to another level.The 14-min. ''To the river'' is an absolute amalgam of the afore-mentioned influences:US Art Rock/Folk with tons of acoustic guitars,more dominant keys,a tight rhythm section,ethereal backing vocals by Oxendine and expressive singing by Boone.

FARPOINT won't blow you away with their God-sent talent or complicated breaks...but they play some damn good Art Rock from their heart,deeped in sensitivity and originality.A nice purchase,mostly for fans of Acoustic Prog or the US sound.