Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Bernardo Rubaja - New Land CD (album) cover

NEW LAND

Bernardo Rubaja

 

Prog Folk

2.04 | 4 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

kenethlevine
Special Collaborator
Prog-Folk Team
2 stars Three years after the collaboration with Cesar Hernandez, "High Plateaux", keyboardist Bernardo Rubaja has changed labels to the upstart, Narada Records, and forged ahead on his own, wisely collaborating with a few of the same artists, including trumpeter Mark Isham, percussionist Alex Acuna, flutist and bassist Eduardo Marquez and harpist Stephanie Bennett. Where Hernandez went is not clear, but this production seems to suffer from the lack of that second keyboard player, as it is far less atmospheric and cinematic than the Windham Hill debut. Since the duo's strengths lay in those arenas, "New Land" is at a relative disadvantage, and it fails to compensate with improvements in other qualities.

While the Andean folk influences remain most apparent throughout, at times Rubaja closes in on SCOTT COSSU, MONTREUX, or ANDREAS VOLLENWEIDER territory. An example of the latter is in the opening and best cut, but ultimately these concessions to the new age establishment sound more like a product of that establishment than like an artist sharing his own rooted take on the genre. This tendency is apparent in "Dreamfield" and "Painted Birds", which, while pleasant enough, never attempt to escape their clearly demarcated confines, that of the sprightly flute and piano melody with a few noteworthy percussive touches. Probably the best of the rest is the harp and charango led "Maria", which manages to conjure its lovely namesake while clarifying that neither picture nor musical arrangement could really render justice.

Even as a new age album, "New Land" isn't particularly noteworthy or even challenging, and it's hard for me to recommend unless you are an easy listening fan who doesn't necessarily need or want to remember what you just heard, because you probably won't.

kenethlevine | 2/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this BERNARDO RUBAJA review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.