SPRING

Once again the advantage we have as members of a site like this, is that we can listen and appreciate to new acts that are willing to gain recognition. The "official review my music board" has been helpful for both, the musicians themselves and us, the listeners and reviewers. And now I have the opportunity to listen to a band from Finland named Kaarna, whose debut EP offers seven tracks, the first four are the studio ones, while the last three are live performances.

The first song is "Twelve", which starts heavy since the very first note. The psychedelic element is evident due to the guitar sound, and of course that bass and drums work that are always in the right place. When the song reaches the three minutes it feels and sounds powerful, heavier than ever. The distorted guitar plays a main role here and provokes an extraordinary and delightful sound. An excellent first song.

"Four" is a longer track and an excellent one. It sounds like an improvisation (it may have been an improvisation actually) with several noises that create a particular atmosphere, the string instruments are playing with themselves, doing a lot of things in few seconds. Some minutes later the song changes a little bit with the addition of drums, however, that jam session and improvisation seems not to end. Worth mentioning, that in some moments I felt I was listening to some King Crimson Discipline era passages.

"Montreaux" is a soft piece. The power and heaviness of the previous songs is over and here they offer a kind of jazzy song with a delicate sound. However, just before minute three the guitar turns a bit raw and that softness ends and a new sound appears.

With "Scandal" there is a nervous feeling provoked by that distorted guitar in the beginning, but later it changes and a new structure is being built up for some seconds. The improvisation-like sound prevails here, the guitar work is actually great because it creates lots of noises that create images in the listener (in my case), also the bass notes are always great in the correct moment.

The studio tracks finished here, and now the live ones begin. "Song" has an addictive bass sound that rings for a couple of minutes, while a constant drum and an odd guitar do their work. The song is progressing little by little until it reaches its "peak" at the last minutes (if that peak was intended), so those last two minutes are worth listening, more than the first ones, of course, in my opinion.

The last two tracks, Montreaux and Four are the just the live and edited version of both. The good thing here is that one can appreciate their talent on stage, their use of loop guitars and their facility to enjoy their music and share that joy to the listener.

This is a very nice EP, the first two songs were particularly my favorites, but in general it is pretty good. I like the way they combined studio and live tracks, interesting. However, I believe they can make something much stronger in the future, and I am looking forward to that. My final grade is three stars.

Enjoy it!

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