BATELESS EDGE

I encountered Frogg Cafe for the first time earlier this year when their first three albums were made available as selections at the now-defunct Prog Rock Records club. I obtained a copy of Creatures and found it to be a very enjoyable album. So when all the rave reviews of Frogg Cafe's latest started coming in, I knew I would have to give it a try.

What we have here is an album by a band who truly understand their music inside and out. This is one of the cases where the music is full of so much contrast, so many different styles, and such complexity that it's almost inconceivable that the band doesn't trip over their own feet. And yet, whether it be from their experience as a Zappa cover band before they started writing their own material, or simply because they've gotten really good at what they do, Frogg Cafe makes this album sound amazing.

On top of the brass and string instruments that accompany the normal rock ensemble, this album has a slew of guest musicians, featuring everything from flute to xylophone, so we really get some great variety in sound here. Although the instruments are often off doing their own thing, as a whole they work really well together.

The vocals aren't particularly amazing technically but I really enjoy them, they fit really well with the music and get the point across. In a sense, they help balance against the more wild instrumental elements.

So, talented musicians with a veritable army of guest musicians with years of practise recording complex music yields - what? One of the better albums I have heard from 2010 so far, featuring two songs in particular that I really dig, Terra Sancta and Under Wuhu Sun, and that flows smoothly from beginning to end alternating between tracks with vocals and instrumental pieces.

The only downside to this album, to my ears, is the second track (Move Over I'm Driving) which seems to wander a bit more than anything else on the disc.

Regardless, a highly recommended listen!