EVE

Thanks again to ProgArchives reviewers who recommended this group because of my interest in/like of AFTER CRYING, MINDFLOWER, and WILLOWGLASS. Buying discs from founder/composer/guitarist Richard Wileman has been a delight because I get personal emails and heads-up notices of Karda Estra news. Also, check out the growing number of live, in-the-studio YouTube videos Richard and his bandmates have put out. (I actually like all of the YouTube video songs better than their album counterparts.)

Anyway, to Eve. From 2001, it is one of Karda Estra's earliest works. While the dark, macabre, 'gothic' story and mood themes are not necessarily what attract me to KE's music, they are, admittedly, very interesting and very different. Richard so often throws in some radically unexpected chord or key change into his compositions that it never fails to 'wake me up' and cause me to smile. Whether I'm smiling at his genius, his audacity, or his guts I'm not altogether sure. All I know is that I like it. A lot.

Though acoustic instruments are the dominant ones used in KE, there are many layers to their recorded music. Organs, synthesizers, and electric guitars and basses play important roles in the music--mostly--and this is the truly unique thing about KE--as background instruments! Sure, the Hackett-esque electric leads get a lot of attention from writers/reviewers, but these are rarely dominant (very reminiscent of the way Steve Rothery's guitar work is mixed into early Marillion music). Richard is truly a master of composition and a beautiful classical guitar player. KE's vocalist, Ileesha Bailey, must be the most meticulous and patient of souls, for her multi-layered vocals are always so exquisitely recorded and rendered. Then there are those woodwinds! Those fabulous women with lips of steel! They alone are enough to get me to listen to every one of KE's songs. The piano/keyboard and strings work is always important, integral, if not always as foreground as the horns, voices, and guitars.

One of my favorite elements of KE music is the often lack of drumming. Don't get me wrong: I love percussionists and percussion work, yet I find myself enjoying more and more the musics that are created without the incessant and sometimes redundant feeling of pounding bass drums, beating toms, snappy snares and crashing cymbols. Thank you Richard and Karda Estra for your role in helping to bring forth a modern revival of the lost art of chamber music.

1. "An Ordinary Mortal" (4:34) Part ANTHONY PHILLIPS, part GENESIS, until Ileesha's vocals enter then it's all Karda Estra. (9/10)

2. "Andraiad" (8:28) Were it not for the gorgeous woodwinds and strings speckled intermittently throughout, this song would fit as a brilliant, eerie STEVE HACKETT song: the guitars all sound just like Steve's style and sounds. Again, Ileesha's vocalizations give KE their own category. Awesome guitar work, Richard! (19/20)

3. "The Pale Ray" (3:29) begins with piano and flute playing staccato notes together, before Ileesha's voice and Caron's oboe introduce other themes. Flute, piano, oboe, and voice take turns playing variations of melodies off of each other. Truly a classical composition of some accomplishment. (8/10)

4. "Super Electrical" (4:41) is another piano-based tune but this time using clarinet, electric guitar and French horn to bring on the melody harmonically. Until an explosion of percussives and Ileesha change the tone for a bit. Electric guitar with volume pedal trades melody with flute and clarinet for a bit before the Ileesha-tympani charge bursts in again. Electric bass and distorted fuzz guitar take a turn before the clarinet, voice and piano chord progression takes over. (9/10)

5. "Eve" (7:37) is a kind of waltz (with snare drum!) this one has an unusual almost MAGMA-like balance of electric and acoustic/orchestral instruments playing side-by-side--and with absolutely beautiful melodies being exchanged as if in conversation. Tremolo electric guitar is another nice effect. At 2:40 Ileesha's stunning, haunting Siren vocals take over and dupe the listener into her power. A beautiful orchestrated ANTHONY PHILLIPS section then ensues, with cymbols and the return of the tremolo electric guitar, beneath a flute and strings lead. Solo piano takes over for a bit before organ, bass and MIKE OLDFIELD-like guitar join in. Then flute with "Entangled"-like guitar before giving way to a variation on a previous section and its theme using voice, strings and flute. A brief encounter with a strings chamber section prepares one for the vocalized outro. (15/15)

6. "Sparks that Flash and Fall..." (10:24) is easily the eeriest song on the album--reminding me a lot of some of the odd nature songs on BRIAN ENO's Ambient 4: On Land. Then organ and volume-pedaled electric guitar take over before treated piano and acoustic guitar sneak up from beneath to take turns in the lead roles. Very ANT PHILLIPS-like section of odd guitar chords being played in arpeggio. A bridge of loud percussives, piano, and Illesha lead into a section that has a kind of Middle Eastern feel to it. All the while the song's eeriness remains quite edgy. At the 5:00 mark there is a complete pause in the music before organ and electric guitars start to bring the main melody back. Orchestral strings and oboe bring light(ness) to the feel, even while playing the song's main melody! Brilliant! Violin plays over piano until bassoon and creepy synth and acoustic nylon string guitar take us back into mystery. What compositional vision! What a collaborative performance! The last two minutes fill the listener with hope and lightness--despite the very odd, eerie piano & orchestra outro. (Shades of the possible return of the evil within?) (19/20)

7. "Thoughts and Silences" (3:24) is a beautiful acoustic dance of guitar, piano, and woodwinds. Stunning melodies throughout. Perfect ending to this amazing album! Oboe, clarinet, and bassoon all take a turn to say goodbye. (10/10)

Though, IMHO, every song on Eve deserves at least a 7 or 8, my three favorites, "Eve," "Super Electrical," and "An Ordinary Mortal" are sheer masterpieces in terms of matching aural pleasure with compositional and performance mastery.

One of my favorite elements of KE music is the often lack of drumming. Don't get me wrong: I love percussionists and percussion work, yet I find myself enjoying more and more the musics that are created without the incessant and sometimes redundant feeling of pounding bass drums, beating toms, snappy snares and crashing cymbols. Thank you Richard and Karda Estra for your role in helping to bring forth a modern revival of the lost art of chamber music.

Five stars--a masterpiece for its levels of composition and performance, the pleasure principle, for its freshness. One of my Top 10 Favorite Albums of the Naughties.