FIENDISH

Phideaux? Good boy! (Sorry, couldn't resist.) Another fantastic discovery for me courtesy of the Archives. Phideaux Xavier is a talented mulit-instrumentalist: guitars, keyboards, and vocals. Phideaux was put in the art rock category, but to my ears the music on this one, his second album and the first Phideaux in my collection, is more of a symphonic/space rock/prog folk blend. I guess art rock works as well as any category and I'm always a sucker for artists categorized as such.

In addition to the guitars, keyboards, and vocals by Phideaux, drums and bass by others, you also get some nice female vocals on most of the tracks, the occasional cello, and even theremin. (Don't worry, not at all like Good Vibrations.) The music reminds me a lot of many of the progressive greats of the '70's but I really couldn't point to a single one in particular for comparison. He really has developed his own sound. It's mostly on the mellow side. If you're in the mood for some great new stuff by all means get to his web site and check out the streaming song samples. This is my first Phideaux, but it won't be my last.