ARNIOE

'One Before X' - Arnioe (6/10)

For a long time, Arnioe was one of those bands that I kept hearing about, but had never had the opportunity to listen to them. When I was offered the chance to get to hear that this Australian progenitor of 'renaissance space rock', I was in a rare spot to have an anticipation and excitement for Arnioe, without having any pre-conceptions about what they were all about. All I knew before going into the band's latest album 'One Before X' was that they were respected and appreciated by the prog rock community. In no short supply of ambition, I can see why Arnioe have garnered their acclaim in retrospect, although I would withhold declaring that Aron Scharfegger and company have yet breached the threshold of real excellence for this sort of music.

Arnioe describes their music as a sort of 'renaissance space rock'. This term to me first inspires impressions of Italian classicists tripping out on psychedelic substances, but the reality of Arnioe's music is a little less preposterous. The trend today in modern prog rock has been to focus a little more on the melodic side of things, and although Arnioe covers a fairly wide range of sounds and instruments, melodic songwriting is at the core of what multi-instrumentalist Aron Scharfegger and the band are doing here. The spacious guitar wandering will no doubt draw comparisons with Pink Floyd circa 'The Wall', but Arnioe's sound reminds me most of Peter Gabriel's post-Genesis career. The lead vocals offered on 'One Before X' are quite reminiscent of Gabriel's more matured, laid-back approach, and the instruments share that much in common. There are a sprinkling of proggier guitar pieces around 'One Before X'- take the opening riffs for 'Awaken' or 'Eternal Changes'- but a synth- laden softness is the general rule for Arnioe's music.

As laid-back as Arnioe's sound is, the prog title is not undeserved. Arnioe earn their keep through the sheer variety of interesting sounds they comfortably fit into the music. There is not a great derivation from the upbeat and dreamlike atmosphere, but the manners in which Arnioe achieve that mood vary quite a bit, whether they're using spacey electronics, guest saxophone solos, or a more straightforward soft rock sound. It is Arnioe's consistent vibe that staves off the album's incoherency, but 'One Before X' is not without some significant weaknesses. The compositions tend to get a little too comfortable with themselves, and sparing the exceptional closer 'IX', it feels like these songs could have used some rearranging to make them feel more lively throughout. Arnioe's greatest bane however is the production, which- while not terrible- leaves a lot to be desired, particularly with any higher- quality studio. The mixing has a tendency to obscure the vocals underneath the rest of the music, and, considering that electronic music is such an important part of what Arnioe is doing here, the fact that many of the beat samples feel lifeless hurts the strong human element.

'One Before X' does not strike me as excellent, although Arnioe's stronger suits are ample evidence to justify why I kept hearing about the band. Arnioe's greatest strength lies in its ambition to experiment with such a variety of different sounds within the course of one album, but as one could anticipate from this approach, it holds the band back from executing any of them with excellence.

Arnioe returns with what I believe is it's 5th album.

This Australian combo is a one man band with Aron Scharfegger and various guest musicians. A nice and tidy unit, in other words. Ate My Words is seventy-one minutes long, divided into eight pieces. It has a mix of a new-age and easy listening build up of songs with some hints of Pink Floyd and Eloy. In other words; listen to this album while relaxing in a sofa. Unfortunate, that means falling into sleep in my case. Burnt potatoes, falling cookery standards and a vocally very unimpressed girlfriend is the end product. This album and this music is simply not so interesting that it keeps me awake. Hence, a nailbed has replaced the sofa while I am listening to this album with the view to review it.

The music is based on tangents, guitars, woodwinds, cello, drums and bass. It is entirely instrumental. It has some good melody lines and some good solos. It is not a bad album at all. Hence, it deserves a good character from me. My gripe is that albums like this is tedious and sleep inducing. But a lot of melody lines here makes me take notice. In particular without the comforts of a nice pillow.

I am by no means a fan, but this album is a weak three stars album.

3 stars

Home grown Aussie multi-instrumentalist Aron Scharfegger's latest album clocks 71 minutes and is purely based on one musical theme. The album is titled "Ate My Words" and he presents the theme in 8 parts on this 2011 release. Aron plays many instruments ranging from guitars, piano, keyboards, synthesizers, percussion, bass guitar and saxophone. There are guest artists on the album that add to the musicscape including Greg Genna on guitar, Chris Fournier on synthesizers, guitar, and bass, as well as vocalist Mahne Dupre and the Kiew Youth Orchestra who play the orchestrated sounds of violins, cellos, basson, and horns. The production is excellent and there are some definite moments of brilliance and an overall consistent sound quality.

Arnioe's instrumental album begins with very spacey synth swirls, very patiently building in intensity from the minimalism of a solo synth to a wall of sound. At 3:40 the organ staccato chords slam in over the manic synthesizers and really lift the ambience to a solid punctuated beat.

Part 2 begins with strange synth effects and a sustained keyboard pad ascending in volume. The spacey phased electric guitar solo is terrific. Some vocalisations are included on this, though incoherent, and they work rather well with the progressive feel of the music.

Part 3 is very different with creepy violins ascending and descending over a strong percussion and synth squiggles. The atmospherics are broken with vocalisations and scats. The heavy guitars come in eventually and overpower the sound.

Part 4 is a plethora of majestic vocals, and a choir with a strong upbeat tempo to drive it. The mood is rather sombre in places and a delightful lead guitar break lifts the mood.

Part 5 is a happier melody and this contrasts sharply with the shadowy bleakness of Track 6. It begins with big booming drum pounding, backmasked creepy vocals and an ethereal violin sound creating a haunting chilling atmosphere. Part 6 is perhaps the darkest track on the album and it builds to a terrific Pink Floyd style guitar piece.

Part 7 is the best track with a killer riff driving it along and some absolutely sensational organ work and very heavy guitars. Lead breaks abound and shift from left to right speaker alternating in volume. The sound is heavier and more forceful bordering on metal. The Hammond sounds are high pitched and very strong.

Part 8 features awesome emotional saxophone playing and a very powerful back beat. The sax reflects the isolation and melancholia of the music. There are some very innovative melodies on display, pretty acoustics, and percussive excellence. The song locks into an elongated Dave Gilmour style lead guitar solo and some spacey effects. Overall the song is another highlight on the album.

Arnioe's latest album is an instrumental treat and has a myriad of emotional mood swings. The musicians are solid performers and there are some real surprises with light and dark textures on the canvas. 3 solid stars for sheer innovation in the compositions and delightful musicianship.

'Ate My Words' is the 5th album from ARNIOE,, headed by multi - talented Aron 'Arnie' Scharfegger. Special guests on this album include Greg Genna, the Kew Classical Youth Orchestra and multi instrumentalist and FONYA leader, Chris Fournier. If you are expecting some of ARNIOE's 'sing along' compositions here, well you will be well disappointed. THIS IS PURE COMPLEX CROSSOVER PROG AT ITS BEST. A concept album divided into 8 Parts, takes you through a journey of themes and genres, varying from classical to metal culminating into the final haunting vocal section of Part 8 which explains the entire concept / theme / idea. This recording should be put into the 'Beethoven' catagory - no middle ground - you are either going to love it or hate it. For me, this is a pieceof Prog art that should be cherrished.

The second album from the Australian artist Aron Scharfegger under the moniker Arnioe.

Arnioe is entirely a one man project with all instruments played by Aron Scharfegger himself. Once again, the music is variations over the theme "Pink Floyd"..... with some additions. The additions is a pretty electronica dominated soundscape at times and some strong leaning towards Roger Waters solo stuff.

The music Arnioe is bringing to the table on For I've Been There is pretty melodic, but not in the AOR sense of melodic. There are some Floydish avant-gardish elements here. But they are more as bridges between the medium long songs.

The quality factor is not particular high. I still think, as in my review of his debut album, Aron Scharfegger is making a mistake by doing everything himself. Another voice and not at least; another creative input would make a lot of difference. That and the lack of some great songs is my main gripe with this album. The good thing about the album is the good songs here. There is nothing here I really dislike and would point out is fatal flaws with this album. It is just that it could had been a better album.

This is a good effort and a good album from Aron Scharfegger. And that's all I can say, really.

3 stars

More Pink Floyd than Pink Floyd themselves.

This is a line from Marty's interview with Aron, describing this album. I could not agree more. The album starts out like some left overs from Floyd's A Momentary Lapse Of Reason album. The saxophone........ well, you get my reasoning. The rest of the album takes us on a voyage through a Floydian landscape. Their final four albums, to be more precise. The vocals is not a million miles away from David's vocals too.

Aron plays all instruments on this album and that is both a weakness and a strength. Strength because the album has a clear narrative running through it. Weakness too of the same reason. The album is slightly one dimensional. The sound suffers from the recording constraints. When that is said, this is not a bad album at all. It actually works well and the songs are all good. It is pretty obvious that this is a debut album. It is a good effort and Aron deserve a lot of credit for it. This is an artist I would like to check out more.

3 stars

First album by talented multi-instrumentalist Aron Scharfegger is similar to his latest album "So Heaven Is Gone" in some aspects. There are influences by Pink Floyd (strong one, glad for this), and it's very nice when saxophone joins the show. Remember Dick Parry ? Even it's not as good as his performance, it's very good. Fits the mood perfectly.

Note that for better understanding, you should see my other review too, as there are many same elements used, even it's somehow different.

While White Cliffs reminds me dreamy guitar solo-ed Genesis song and in general sounds like 70's Prog stuff. On the other hand, we then returns to PF again with Heads Up.

Don't forget that it's not copying of style, these songs just sounds like something that could have been done by Pink Floyd and I'm using this band because it's well known and can explain how these songs sounds.

This album is more melodic than SHIG. I still wonder how Australia is connected because from conversation with Aron, I know that his country, his homeland influenced him too.

4(+), remarkably good album, quite surprise to find this as debut.

WOW!!!!

WOW & UNBELEIVABLE.

Believe it or not, ARNIOE (band, artist, project) haven't even got a record deal yet. !!!!!. They have produced and self funded 4 albums to date, with this latest effort, double CD ? 'So Heaven Is Gone' and what a prog delight this baby is.

Firstly, THIS IS a lengthy album with almost 2 hours of compositions.

The next element of surprise is the variety: ARNIOE do not seem to fit into any category of such (the PA Crossover Team have certainly got this one right), they just seem to compose material how they feel, and the quality of songs are no more evident than on this album : Atmosphere, moody, heavy, spacey, dreamy with clever double meaning lyrics all performed with great musicianship and production.

This album is advertised somewhere as 'A Headphone Must' and this is absolutely true, as there is so much going on in the background, quite amazing, but not overdone.

Aron's vocals suit the softer dreamier songs incredibly well, and when he requires more 'umpf' on the heavier tracks, he is well supported by backing vocals by Mahne Dupre and The Dover Gospel Singers. Aron's guitar work is very 'Gilmore-ish' with Greg Genna playing the faster guitar passages, both combining beautifully.

Every song on this album has something special about it, and that is probably the reason why it is on 'high rotation' in my CD player ? almost like listening to a 'best of' from a variety of bands. If you don't like variety in your music ? you will hate this, but this album is Crossover Prog AT ITS BEST and with such, holds a special place amongst my 1500+ CD collection.

Atmosphere..........

..........isn't gone yet guys.

Because this album has tons of it. Long release, one of the longer I've seen in the days of 2010. Reminding me I don't even know what, its sound is quite unique. It's exploration of new land / sound / plane (and whatever) scapes. There's also a lot of dreamy parts, jazzy parts, electronic modulated vocal parts and many others.

Wait a minute, this is Crossover, right ? Then it's OK (it would be OK anyway, because all these elements works here). One can maybe say that there's everything (and this idea wouldn't be too far from truth). I'll add that most of it (almost everything) is pleasant to listen (how they call it, ranging from neutral to beautiful).

Tasmania is a promising "intro" track, slowly building sounds from gentle ambient music, gaining "weight", more detailed textured, it serves as flagship of this album, setting the atmosphere of entire album. When keyboards kicks in, I was quite surprised. I wasn't expecting them, same as Hard Rock riffs that comes after them. This song graduates in harmony of many instruments. Good thing is that it doesn't sound forced, but more like flow of the river. Australia => Tasmania.

Fast Car is different, it's more straight song, not providing so much of innovative things, except solos, that are (if Tasmania was in the end multi-layered, then this must be...) mega-layered. Maybe I just don't like whole feeling of this song so much (some elements here attracts me, but the atmosphere is losing here). However, this song is an exception. Not perfect, but good for sure, because after all, it ends well. Beginning is more mundane though.

Feel Alive is living track, with dreamy vocals.

Angels Face is half jamming, half ambient track. I like this combination, as it's something I don't know too much.

Let's face it, almost everything here is layered. And all tracks seems like dipped in Space Rock (sounds).

The ARNIOE, or There to calm places and Back Again to wild paced tunes (for those who didn't understand, it's rewritten title of "The Hobbit", yep, you can say this too. Some parts will certainly be less favourite in your liking preferences, but that's completely OK. It's very variable music, so this fact is supposed to count with. Plus add that it's almost one-man project (+ guests), it's so long and still interesting and it all results in fine

4(+) for solid (yet ethereal) album.