GREYFIELD

GreyField is the project of a one Ferdinand Marin Vega, and he has created symphonic majesty. Most of the tracks here are by turns driven by keys and winds rather than guitars, and it allows for some refreshingly beautiful music. The key sections include wonderful mellotron, and organ that sounds like we're back in the Sixties, and the winds are mainly pretty flutes. What guitar is there is mainly a nice acoustic one that backs the keys and winds perfectly, especially on "August Part I", where all of that, plus a bit of rare electric guitar, comes together for one of the album's crowning moments. The electric riffage is also rather modern, while everything else is Sixties and Seventies throwbacks... but it all comes together perfectly. The best symphonic of the year, and performed outstandingly by what I hope will be a rising star of prog.

Greyfield is mainly the brainchild of Spanish multi-instrumentalist and composer Fernando Marin Vega, a talented musician from Almeria with a solid classical background. The eponymous debut album of this project was self-released in 2014 and it's an excellent instrumental work that blends classical influences and seventies progressive rock with a touch of Mediterranean folklore and Andalusian flavour. All the pieces are elaborate and complex but never boring...

Vintage sounds prevail, raging organ waves alternates with delicate, soaring melodies led by the flute, strummed acoustic guitars alternate with dreamy keyboards passages, there are sudden changes of rhythm and as the music flows away with your imagination you can cross breathtaking landscapes painted in grey and pink colours following the flight of some snow geese directed to the stars by the charm of a powerful wizard... Well, this work is definitely set in classic prog and every now and again it sounds to me as a weird cross between Camel and Genesis. Anyway, you can listen to the complete album from bandcamp.com, so have a try and judge by yourselves!

As the ratings show, the initial reception for this instrumental prog album was very warm. But unfortunately only two reviews ever appeared, and the artist's output withered after a digital single released in 2016. Greyfield was a one- man project of Fernardo Marín Vega from Southern Spain. If he plays all the instruments himself on this album, he's a truly gifted multi-instrumentalist! Keyboards, flute, guitars, bass, drums -- at least these are played to a very band-like effect.

Vega's musical influences include both classic symphonic prog acts such as ELP, Camel and Focus, and classical composers like Bela Bartók and Igor Stravinsky. You guessed, organ is central in the sound, but the flute as well, actually even more. The rhythm section is powerful, and both electric guitar and Spanish-type acoustic guitar are bringing some sonic variety. On one hand, mainly speaking of the organ and the flute, the sound is rather retro (late 60's, early 70's), but the use of electric guitar is pretty modern and approaches heavy/metal. Also the synth arsenal contains some modern approach. This dichotomy has its pros and cons.

Have to say, I am not as impressed by this album as I hoped to be. In the end the pieces sound rather the same mainly because the mellower sections are painfully scarse. Compositional variety is narrow, emphasizing on the energetic power. I'm not very much into the ELP sort of organ dominance, but most of all I'm disappointed with the flute. In general I love especially the delicate, soft sounds of this fine instrument (think of some Camel pieces), but here the flute is heard too constantly and often too high-pitched, so my ears get tired of it. The nearly 11-minute final piece 'Mediterranean Sonata' may be a highlight on its own, as a dynamic and meandering composition, but sonically it doesn't really stick out from the rest.