POTENTIAL DELTAS

The wild, the beautiful and the damned world of Progressive rock never ceases to amaze us when we least expect it, coming around the corner, hoo hoo, with some new twist with a promise of adventure. Nikitas Kissonas was also a member of Verbal Delerium and is a highly gifted musician from the Hellenic country we call Greece, and has a fine series of albums available, this one being the fourth. He released The Fall of Bliss (2011) and Suiciety (2015), received high honours from my pen, I somehow missed Topos (2018) and now comes this intriguing and I daresay, experimental slice of heroic material, that incorporates prog with traditional Greek music in a unique blend of boundary pushing vignettes that will surely astound many a fan of innovative sounds. This is an entirely one-man show, a showcase for a creative musician with a vision and a heart.

After a chaotic opening with ebbs, flows, dissonant sonics and even monastery-like chants that beguile and astound, "Starting Anew" does just that, with a buzzing bee synth chased by traditional Greek handclaps whilst introducing a folk melody, that morphs into bass-led theatrical section, somewhere between Talking Heads and Sophocles, deviating and churning vocal acrobatics on the fringe of oddity (or odyssey). The quirky high-pitched voice on "You Want to Know" leads into a fantasy land for children, as if attending a kindergarten rhyme contest, while the spectral "A Farewell Kiss" is a worrisome linear rant where Nikitas' forlorn shudder inspires some kind of unease verging on delirium, sparse instrumentalism stressing the mental part, echoing, and bellowing like a sailor desperately searching for the Golden Fleece. Its marvellously weird.

"Eff it, let's dance" he blurts out and unexpectedly, the mood veers into a splashy disco curiosity that elevates through the various floors leading to the roof of psychosis (there is nice Greek word for you), bypassing all the material temptations that modern life has to offer and go back down gain to the basement for another run? Things return to normal (whatever that means) as an acoustic guitar skillfully navigates through the chirping birds and the flowing streams, sketching a trilling Hellenic folk section that exudes that inner passion that they are so known for. The speed is briefly revved up for a more furious exaltation, and back we go to some technical bravado on the fretboard that is jaw-dropping in intensity. "Xopoc" is quite the display, a restless and provocative tour de force.

The final mind-bending track reverts to the natural sounds that began this brief voyage into a sun-drenched illusion, a reverential clarinet dueling with hand drums, wood blocks and a gradual hypnosis (another fine Greek word), with liberal doses of conflict and dissent. "Eff it , lets drink" as I grab the ouzo bottle firmly.

4 possible estuaries