SPACES

Violeta De Outono, since 2007, has been releasing fantastic records, one after the other. It is an undeniable fact that the band compose and release albums at a very slow pace (this is their fourth album since their return in 2005), but we have to take into account that Fabio Golfetti has been touring with Gong, before and after Daevid Allen death, and he is now an official member of the band, having release a record and touring with them.

That aside, Spaces (2016) comes packed with the wonderful trademark sound of the band, the kind of sound that is influenced by the Canterbury Sound and bands like Caravan and Camel. But its psychedelic early-career essence, dating back to early-Pink Floyd records, are still present, and that is what makes Violeta De Outono so unique.

It is good to see Gabriel Costa (bass) getting more space and to see his soloing in the opening track ('Imagens'), it is also good to see that the organ of Fernando Cardoso is still the essential skeleton to the band's music. But of course Fabio Golfetti remains the face of Violeta De Outono with his calm and soft voice and his atmospheric guitar.

Overall it is difficult to review an album like Spaces (2016), not because it is bad, on the contrary, but because the tracks pass through your ears and get etched into your mind, making you fall into a trance, and at that moment you see yourself shaking your head to the rhythmic sound of José Luiz Dinóla's drum beat (paired with Gabriel's hypnothic bass lines) while the floating sounds of the organ and guitar simply take you to another dimension.

'A Painter Of The Mind' is a perfect example, I prefer Violeta De Outono singing in Portuguese, but this song, sung in English, is the perfect example of what I said above. However it is quite possible that 'Cidade Extinta' is my favorite track of the album. The track is highly Progressive but with that melancholy 'a la' Caravan, while still having the DNA and soul of the band.

Highly recommended album for any lover of a good 'old-vintage' Prog.