INNER VOYAGES BETWEEN OUR SHADOWS

I only know this Brasilian four piece band from their tribute to the amazing 3-CD The Odeyssey Project, I wrote about them: "Aether from Brasil is the warm and pleasant final act on this 3-CD. They sound traditional with strong echoes from the neo-progressive movement with music that ranges from swinging with fluent electric guitar to dreamy with soaring keybards and mid-tempo with exciting synthesizer flights. The end is beautiful with sensitive acoustic guitar."

Well, after listening to this second album by Aether I can almost repeat the abovementioned musical analysis! The focus is on the wonderful, very flowing and warm guitar work, strongly evoking Steve Rothery and Mike Holmes (especailly the guitar sound on Dans Le Parc Du Chateau Noir), the album is layered with often compelling soli. The keyboards are tastefully colouring the music (strings, church-organ sound and some fine soli on synthesizer). It's a pity that the vocals are not in their native language because the music would have sound more emotional, now the vocals are a bit flat and you can hear the accent easily. And at some moments the atmosphere in the compositions is a bit similar, it's no coincidence that, in my opinion, the most captivating and alternating track is the cover A Night On Bald Mountain (Mussorgsky) delivering great bombastic eruptions and many strong breaks and accellarations. Nonetheless, this is a beautiful neo-prog inspired album that will please the fans of early Marillion and IQ and bands like Clepsydra.

I can't remember how I discovered AETHER, but I'm glad that I did...

This, their second album, shows how they have developed and matured, so often it's the second offering that is inferior, not in this case.

Whilst slightly ragged at times and tending to over extend some of the tracks, they are all well worth listening to. Perhaps I'm being a little harsh but the production aspect could do with some improvement... A downside unfortunately lies with the same keyboard sound being over used.

Good flowing melodic passages that demonstrate that the group are working well together and have a good understanding. Nothing overtly intricate but easily moving from one theme to the next, one track to the next.

Certainly an excellent addition to any collection. 4 stars.

I remember I wrote a review on their debut album, which was rather weak and amateur effort. With this one AETHER got much better; it’s like another band! Imagine CAMEL-influenced Prog with long epics, fusion-leaned instrumentals, fiery guitar/keys interplays and some obvious PINK FLOYD/ALAN PARSONS hints, and you’ll get the idea how AETHER sounds like. They are still a bit amateurish, sometimes they lack tenacity and inner power, but I’m pretty sure they know how to achieve it. Being far from masterpiece, nevertheless this is a solid release in its own nature, and I can recommend it to all CAMEL/FLOYD lovers (well, don’t expect THAT much though ;) ).

Very nice release from this brazilian symphonic band Aether. In their second release they prove they learned a lot and the overall feeling is very good. There are some great guitar work that reminds od Camel and Pink Floyd, while the keyboards and rhythm section has a more jazz rock feel on most of the songs. The production is quite good and the artwork is beautiful. I feel the songwriting department needs a little boldness and more inventiveness. Still the music is very pleasant and interesting. The only real downside on this album are the vocals: they are ok but nothing more, the band would gain a lot if they had a real singer with the same vocal potential as the instrumentists. Unfortuynatly this is something rather common in a lot of bands that have a very strong instrumental work (should they get rid of all lyrics and become a instrumental only essemble? Certainly they have the chops to do so, if they wish so).

Inner Voyages Between Our Shadows is a good album and Aether is a promising group. I´m looking forward to hear their next work. If you´re into 70´s symphonic rock with some strong Camel and Floyd influences, you should give it a try. 3 stars.

In its existence from the mid-90s until sometime in the early 21st century the Brazilian band Aether has made only two albums: "Visions" in 1999 and the "Inner Voyages Between Our Shadows" from 2002. Both CD's show beautiful Camel-inspired symfo, music that regularly also contains a jazz rock feel. Aether comes up with material that doesn't make you sit back sleepy, but the fact that you're still sitting in your chair after listening to it also is worth something.

The band consists of four talented musicians who know what they are doing. There is guitarist Vinicius Brazil who has woven his melodic playing through everything. Often he sounds relaxed in an Andy Latimer-like way, but he also has that piercing like Mike Holmes (IQ). His tones thrive on the warm keyboard sounds with which Alberto Curi has dressed up the music. Only occasionally there is a solo by his hand or a thematic figure sounds as in the piece with the church organ sounds of the instrumental The Gate or during the synthesizer parts in Scenes Of Wondering Beyond. In general, his game is therefore quite woolly and elongated.

Curi also is responsible for all lead vocals on the album. His voice sounds nice and laid back like in Camel, while the accent he sings with will certainly add up to that. This is well reflected in, for example, opener Prayer For A New Meeting and the poignant Forgiveness. Both songs exemplify the epic setup of the album.

For example, we only hear six songs for 73 minutes and on top of that, each song is in turn divided into a large number of subtitles. You will not encounter any really shocking mood changes. Who has not lost any sleep over this is bassist Fernando Carvalho who stoically goes through the songs with his virtuosity. He is a pleasure to listen to this bassing Brazilian. He and drummer Mario Leme bring the jazz rock harmonies of his companions to life in a very nice way. The album immediately jumps into that mode with the Al Di Meola-like intro of Prayer For A New Meeting.

Of the six songs that populate the album, five are of their own making. In concrete, this means that the closing track is a cover of Night On Bald Mountain by the Russian classical composer Modest Mussorgsky. Not only does the workpiece get a typical Aether arrangement, two vocal parts have also been added. It is a tasteful composition with strong keyboard playing.

Unanimously, this album is labeled as being better than its predecessor. A search for "Inner Voyages Between Our Shadows" will not be that difficult, in 2006 Musea re-released the album.

Orginally posted on www.progenrock.com