DIFFERENT WAYS

The three members of Swedish outfit Xinema originally played together in a band called Madrigal in the late Eighties. It was only when meeting up in the late Nineties that they thought that it might be fun to go back and revisit some of the Madrigal material and record a CD for themselves. But as time passed, the very fact that they were under no pressure meant that they had produced an album that they felt might be appreciated by a wider audience than just the band themselves and it is this album that has just been released by Canadian label Unicorn Records.

This is prog that has a light heart; it is music that needs to be taken seriously but not so seriously that it isn't enjoyed. My initial feelings on the album was that they were definitely influenced by Saga and while that is still the case there are also some more commercial elements which give the album a more acceptable air to some progheads. It is 'respectable' music, music that is pleasant and complex while not being hard work, much closer to Nineties Genesis than to that of the same band twenty years earlier.

Because it is such an easy album to listen to I am sure that this is going to gain them a large following. If you enjoy prog that has stacks of space within it, and from a band that aren't afraid to play a ballad when they have to, then this is an album to investigate further

Originally appeared in Feedback #72, Feb 03