STRINGS

Once the SFF phase was completely gone, the duo of Heinz Fröhling and Gerhard Führs undertook the task for a sophomore album with a more eclectic attitude than the one conveyed in the amazing debut album "Ammerland". The latter had been mainly a showcase for the duo's pastoral approach to the realms of symphonic rock, but now "Strings" delivers a more varied sonic spectrum that includes new sources such as jazz-rock and fusion with a poppy orientation. Not really new, as a matter of fact, since a similar approach can be found in the final SFF album ("Ticket to Everywhere"). 'Roundabout' kicks off the album with an easy-going spirit, based on Mediterranean joyful moods lightly carried away on a jazz-funky rhythmic structure. Here is a coincidence (at least, a partial one) with the line of work that Sky had started on at the time. 'Morning Bird' shifts to a contemplative mood, very bucolic in a Mike Oldfield sort of way. 'Dancing Colors' can be described as a mixture of the ambiences delivered in both preceding pieces:: it bears the agile grace of light folk-rock while preserving a melancholic nuance with a very pastoral root. It is true that the absence of a drummer allows Führs to state a nice set of symphonic keyboard layers and ornaments that sound like Novalis-meets-Camel, while Fröhling elaborates beautiful guitar phrases. 'Artificial Force' is the only track in the album that really features the electric guitar, albeit sharing the leading role with the massive spacey keyboard wall-of-sound played by Führs. The sonic framework sounds like solo Steve Howe supported by musicians from Eloy, plus a lightly jazzy rhythm section developing as a confident foundation. This might as well be a lost track from SFF's "Ticket to Everywhere". The namesake track starts the album's second half with an air of intimacy, offering a classicist basic composition that is perfectly augmented by the eerie synth layers and the jazz-oriented cadences through the chord shifts. This thing that would have easily been labeled as new-age in the late 80s is actually an exercise on simple symphonic rock with a pronounced romantic mood. 'Happiness' is a fusion piece on a reggae vibe, funny although clearly unsubstantial concerning the sort of musical framework that SF use as their trademark. 'Open Valley' is indeed a very appealing track, an exercise on symphonic pomposity where Führs' keyboards rule the emissions of colorfulness and candor. The closing track 'Sassa' is yet another exposure to light-weight folk-rock, this time with clear hints at Latin-jazz and tropical ambiences. Although this piece is obviously designed to entertain, it has a more accomplished artistic result than 'Happiness'. All in all, the "Strings" album is not this duo's finest hour, but it succeeds at revealing the band's eclectic interests, which happen to be delivered in a refined way through this somewhat irregular tracklist.