SATELLITE

Knowing that the band was formed by former Karnataka and former Mostly Autumn members can already give an idea of what this album can contain. I have to say that I hear more similarities with MA than with Karnataka as I could have expected but it may be just my subjective feeling.

Not a bad album at all. I've been a little surprised reading in another review that the track that doesn't work for the reviewer is the one that I have liked more than the others: "I Am A Cat", which demonstrates how subjective the perception of music can be.

The album starts with a rock guitar riff. "Freedom To Breathe" is a good rock song on which the former MA Anne Marie Helder shows her vocal extension. Paul Davies is not mimic of David Gilmour. At the end this song reminds me a bit to Magenta.

"Picking Up Knives" is bluesy. Anne's voice works very well on this track which leaves some room to piano and bass. A radio friendly song good, I think, for driving.

Now it's the turn of the already mentioned "I Am A Cat". Meows are done by the guitar. the song is a sort of grotesque waltz. with a nice chorus of the kind which remains fixed in the head for some time.

"The Fall" is a good title for a song which fails to keep me interested. It's too far from my tastes, just melodic chill-out. It doesn't mean that somebody else can't like it. Not my pot.

Instead, I like the bass on the following "Black Noise". On this song Anne sounds a bit like Heather Findlay on "Caught In A Fold". This is another rocking song which unfortunately has another chill-out in the middle that I like less, however Anne's voice is excellent and in its complex the song is surely not bad even if far from being a masterpiece.

"Yasuni" is an important song. "In a land in the Amazon There is a sound Like the burning of Eden Down to the ground ". Unfortunately in that reserve which is considered the place most rich of biodicversity in the world somebody has found petrol. A song with a little newage flavor.

I remember a short time lived Italian duo called "Nocturna". This "Sunshine" is a song which reminds me to them. btw, that duo was considered newage.

I think that putting too many slow-time melodic songs in sequence sometimes doesn't work. When "Into The Fire" comes I'm in general a bit tired of all this sweetness. Taken alone this is an excellent song. Easy chords and very radio friendly but makes its work.

"Dark Star" is opened by a church organ which closes the sequence of sugar and honey of the previous songs. It's a melodic song, as well as the rest of the album, but this is more tasty, the chord passages are not trivial and the mood is dramatic. Close to the Mostly Autumn of the "Passengers" period.

"Muse" is another nice pop song. I think to Christina Boothe's solo debut album. Keys and voice.

The title track closes the album. It's also the longest song and even if length doesn't necessarily mean "progressive", this is a song which can qualify a band for this site. It switches on a flag in my mind, but I can't identify exactly what it is. It's the sensation that I often feel when a song contains elements which are common with others. I have felt this sensation the first time I've listened to Mostly Autumn's "The Gap Is Too Wide". I was trying to remember when I had listened something I had never listened to before. A very good closer for an average album.

Good but non essential, with some weaknesses in the middle but also some very good songs