NIGHT

Again, there is not much i can add to what has already been said, but being one of my favourite releases of this year, i could´t avoid reviewing this magnificent piece of art, so here i go.

I haven´t been a Gazpacho fan for too long, i just dicovered them less than a year ago, since then they have nicely surpriced me with each album i´ve heard. They did a very descent debut, they continued with a couple of acceptable effots, then you can hear a more mature band in the excelent FIREBIRD, and then this... This is something else. This year there have been very good albums, but only 2 of them have really impressed me to the bones: Porcupine Tree´s FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET and Gazpacho´s NIGHT.

From the beginning of their carrier you can clearly listen the influences of different bands, and you can still hear these in NIGHT, but somehow they have managed to fusion them and create their own sound. I woud say that if you put in a blender the music of Radiohead, Marillion, Mowai, Pineapple Thief, Talk Talk, a bit of Porcupine Tree and even Pink Floyd, including the voices of Hogarth, Yorke and Hollis; then all these mixed with genres like Neo Prog, Post Rock, Art Rock and Alternative Rock, you´ll get something like this.

I love the way they built the songs, going from breathtaking soundscapes full of keys to ocassional guitar riffs and melodic solos a la Rothery, to mellower interludes and the intelligent use of strings like mandolin, acustic guitar and violin, and all of these elements always driven by a consistant and nice rhythm section. Specially the violin adds very interesting moments to some songs like the middle part of "Dream of Stone", and finishing sections of "Upside Down" and "Massive Illusion". Second track "Checkered Light Buildings" reminds me a little bit of Marillion´s "The Space", but definitively it has its own feeling. It´s hard to say what´s the best song but one of my fave is "Upside Down", wich you can listen to here as an Mp3 sample.

Another thing that i like about this cd is the way the songs are conected, so smoothly that you can barely tell that the next track is already on. I can almost feel it like one big song divided in 5 sections, but each one with its own life and easily recognisible from the others. This also gives me a curious feeling, it still happens to me, but it was stronger at firsts listens, specially the very first: i thaught the album was 35 or 40 minutes long when it ended, i was thinking that it was a shame that the recording was too short, then i looked at the cd counter and it was marking 53! That made me realise how wonderful the album was, leaving you always wanting more...

As a conclusion i could say that if don´t like bands like the ones mensioned before, you can still give it a try, but probably you´ll skip after a while. If you are a typical 70´s purist and ussually don´t like modern bands in the Neo Prog vein, Post Rock or bands with influences from non-prog genres, you will hardly get it. But if are into atmospheric dreamy music, melancolic and dramatic singing a la Steve Hogarth or Mark Hollis and contemporary Prog and Alternative Rock you´ll love this album, so don´t miss it.

Viva el Prog!

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