LONELINESS

Dawn came in life in Montreux, Switzerland through the friendship of schoolmates Julien Vuataz (bass) and Rene Degoumois (vocals, guitars).The official formation of the band is detected sometime around 2005 with the addition of Nicolas Gerber on keyboards.Two demos later and with Patrick Dufresne behind the drum kit Dawn felt ready to tape their ideas and writing process on a CD.Thus, ''Loneliness'' saw the light in 2007.

Dawn attempted to do what hunderds of bands tried a decade behind: Capture the essence of Classic groups of the 70's and add a touch of personality to come up with a symphonic-oriented Prog Rock album.The result is pretty nice and close to the likes of TRANSATLANTIC and MAGIC PIE, although their sound has a bit of a Nordic feeling akin to ANGLAGARD and WOBBLER at moments through plenty of melancholic touches, the emotional singing lines and a more pronounced KING CRIMSON-like atmosphere in the guitar parts, which are not that complex but contain often a slightly jazzy vibe.The music of Dawn is built on beautiful keyboard themes, a raw rhythm section and a diverse guitarist and passes through symphonic textures with huge Mellotron waves, discreet electric piano and atmospheric acoustic piano images.The atmosphere is doomy with downtempo parts and rare take-offs regarding the rhythm, but the music remains fairly interesting until the end with lots of breaks, dramatic soundscapes and unexpected twists with virtuosic solos among the tight orchestrations.There are also plenty of synth flashes throughout but not in a Neo Prog way, here the sound remains strongly symphonic close to COLLAGE's more melodic and bombastic material.Very nice stuff, which is quite often powered by dual keyboard techniques and smooth, slightly psychedelic outakes.

Mission completed for Dawn.A nice Symphonic Rock effort with dark themes yet still some more emotional segments with atmospheric, instrumental executions.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.