ARTEFACT

This is the sophomore effort from the band KASHGAR, headed by Ontario based guitarist Marcus Taylor. He's responsible for the lyrics, plus the whole production as well. Keyboarder Ben Bell also seems to be a constant, contributes very appealing Hammond organ on this occasion. The new one 'Artefact' is a jazz respectively world fusion fundamented album, also garnered with some blues, samba respectively latin remarks. As for that they are offering progressive rock for sure, though not the purest, one can say, not all along the way anyhow. A great plus in any case, I'm pleased to hear Marc Atkinson participating, at least when it comes to three of the songs.

Regarding the prog scene a rather popular vocalist from the UK, with contributions for bands like Nine Stones Close, Drifting Sun, Riversea, and many others too. Provided by Candy Medusa, the album art is something speciaI, I'd say nicely complementing to the world music character. Apart from that I can't discover a strict concept here, unless you take the general attitude to weave diverse musical influences together, gathered throughout recent years most likely. What helps anyway, Taylor also delivers an interesting album accompaniment. Which means a track guide, in order to offer some insight concerning the particular approach.

Apart from the already mentioned aspects, the guitar playing is very pleasing, top notch overall. A preference for Carlos Santana's work comes to the fore in between due to Sabarito and Libertad. Examplarily the world music impact manifests with Transcendence, while drawing a distinct reference to the traditional South Indian Carnatic respectively Konnakol chant for example. With Atkinson being perfectly incorporated the fusion-esque Light Me Up finally turns out to be my favourite track. My conclusion: 'Artefact' is a good album with nice compositions and excellent sound mix, 3.5 stars.