CORNER OF THE WORLD

Five stars from Ivan Melgar is something worth following up on--and I did. Found Corner on Bandcamp and have been listening to it three times over now for the past two or three hours. This is awesome stuff--eclectic in the truests sense of the word as SOLUS3 has drawn from so many musical styles and influences to make this album of amazing music. I'd have been more prone to place this one in the space/psychedelia category, though. It is so wonderful to hear the harp being used more and more in prog (also prominant in Frequency Drift and SKE's releases this year), and here it is an essential and usually central instrument of all arrangements--though the interplay between harp, bass and drum are truly the most compelling and interesting element to these jazzy spacey jams.

1. "Unfold" (9:46) is so SOUIXIE AND THE BANSHEES (her unparalleled cover of Disney's The Jungle Book's "Trust in Me") BRAINTICKET, Popol Vuh, Amun Düül II, and, now Vespero. (18/20)

2. "Tricked by a Monster" (9:26) Many times on this LP am I tickled to hear some Reggae sounds: here the bass, occasionally guitar chords or percussives. Guest singer Jemma Freeman brings so much Donna Summer-like soul to this space jam. Awesome trip! (18/20)

3. "Lollardy" (4:15) takes us on a totally different trip: an industrialized harp-bass and trumpet trance dance; part "Blade Runner Blues," part 21st Century Miles Davis, part Celtic funeral march, this is a song unlike any you have ever heard. (9/10)

4. "Corner of the World" (6:42) returns us to a kind of Reggaed SOUL II SOUL jam--just as S2S used to do to us, it's filled with cameo appearances of all sorts of totally unexpected instruments, sounds, tricks. As a matter of fact, the only thing fairly 'normal' in this song is--surprise!--the rather straightforward drumming! Love the wild harp playing around 4 minutes in! (7/10)

5. "Porn Jam" (4:46) again brings me back to BRAINTICKET--especially the voice of pleasure and ecstacy Krupa here pulls off. Etheric and angelic, yet sultry and very sexual. Weird horn/synth at 3:00 kind of 'ruins the mood' a bit. Nice groove from the bass, drum & harp rhythm section. (8/10)

6. "Reich" (7:54) is my favorite. It is mesmerizing and hypnotic yet the bass and harp inter-playing are so fascinating. Very Celtic-New Age yet entirely jazz-fusion--especially thanks to surprises at 3:00 (Japanese koto-sounding harp section) and synth-saw at 5:00. (There is an unfortunate period where rapid percussive beat land harp and bass lose their entrainment. Just enough to 'awaken' the listener from his/her blissful transport. Quite reminiscent of the amazing ENO/LARAAJI Ambient 3: Day of Radiance album. (14/15)

7. "Pumori" (11:01) reminds me of a beautifully drawn out, free form version of Jazzmaster 4 PAUL HARDCASTLE & HELEN ROGERS' "Emerald Stardust." Love the "Shhh!" and "You can go to bed now" after the 9:00 mark. Outstanding fade out/end. (18/20)

Wow! What can I say! A totally unexpected trip (four times continuously now!) The only thing missing is the pleasure den. Oh, well. Great music, great creativity, great album. Not sure this is a prog masterpiece, though it is a masterpiece of progressive creativity.

B/four stars; an excellent expression of eclectic progressive rock music; not quite a masterpiece yet delightful for its unexpectedness.