ONE EYE ON THE SUNRISE

NINE STONES CLOSE is the brainchild of guitarist Adrian Jones, who sometime left England in order to settle in The Netherlands. During recent years he succeded to collect a couple of musicians from wellknown dutch prog bands with the view to implement his musical ideas. So this is the fourth album in the meanwhile, what I can see. Some overwhelming appraisal attracted my attention in the end, and I took the time to make familiar with the current album 'One Eye On The Sunrise'.

First of all let me say that this music appears to me like an extremely emotional affair ... while considering that - in general - I have problems to figure non-native lyrics out. Thus, alternatively I mean those nearly plaintive guitars and the empathic singing voice for example, provided by Marc Atkinson. The complete sound comes with three M's - somewhat mournful, melancholic, majestic, which simply captivates after a while. This even includes heavy outbursts as well as peaceful acoustic ballads, put together quite naturally to an entertaining experience.

Well, I'm always melting down when being faced with A Secret - it's the slight psychedelic respectively ambient flow, embellished with intriguing vocals and very very effective guitar input. Furthermore the instrumental Janus comes with a nice groove and distinct neo prog/symphonic touch. ... And Dream Of Sleep heralds into an acoustic set which also includes the title track ... for the initial minutes at least. The song structure is made of alternating sections though, either offering a solemn atmosphere based on (semi-?)acoustic guitar, piano and cello, but also repeatedly evolving into a heavy rocking issue, decorated with a bunch of sawing riffs. Grandezza!

The Weight is the next to mention, a wonderful ballad which eventually comes out of hiding right in the middle. The extended epic Frozen Moment finally marks the centerpiece, culminating into something outraged, even explosive towards the end. 'One Eye On The Sunrise' is another album which you can't handle casually, just as a footnote, which needs full concentration to unfold. I recommend to take the time to enter Adrian's realm, especially if you like emotive prog music - you won't regret, promised.