MAR DE ROBLES

During the last ten years, South America has been a very prolific land of good-to-great prog new bands, with Mar de Robles from Chile being one of the most notable examples. Their sound is built upon the influences of 73-75 King Crimson and psychedelia, while absorbing lots of latin jazz fusion colours and South American folk textures. Mar de Robles cleverly mixes the fire of rock and the magical tenures of exotic folk, with perfect fluency and immaculate proficiency. The guitar and sax parts are somewhat aggressive, as well as dissonant without going too wild about it. A big deal of sensuality is provided by the percussive instrumentation: the drummer/percussionist duet displays an awesome level of precision and energy. On the other hand, the flute parts are more pastoral, in this way creating an interesting contrast to the lead guitar riffs and solos. The compositions and the musicianship are equally great: it's incredible how this band manages to convey a well defined musical identity during 53 minutes and avoid getting repetitive or boring - in fact, this band sounds evenly refreshing and exciting from the opening right to the closure. Additionally, the lyrics are heavily social oriented, criticizing the alienation of modern urban society and proposing a kind of return to the natural link of humankind to Mother Earth. The lyrical themes are basically an expansion of the need to trascend that Mar de Robles assumes as their artistic credo. Among the fiercer numbers, the most accomplished in my opinion are Tantic, Mylodon and V'S, while Nomades and Aire Chileno (my two fave tracks, actually) offer a more explicit combination of electric fire and acoustic sensibility. Overall balance: an excellent addition to any good prog collection.