MORNING LIGHTS

- I was impressed by the debut CD In The Haze Of Time (2002), especially the swirling keyboard work from the young and promising Gil Stein. It took four years to make a successor, it's entitled Morning Lights. The cover (Sleeping Giant) is very funny, showing a giant that is sleeping on a bridge with his head on a fire brigade car. But back to the music.

1. Songs Of Winds (3.38) : The atmosphere is this first song is Medieval (and JS Bach inspired) with a delicate flute sound and sparkling keyboards.

2. Morning Lights (21.33) : The long titletrack is loaded with great keyboard play and sounds very dynamic, the fans of bands like Trace and The Nice will be delighted. I am not really pleased with the mediocre vocals but there's plenty good instrumental music to enjoy.

3. Ripples (12.16) : (This is not a Genesis cover) The intro delivers the distinctive sound of the harpsichord, then it's Hammond organ time, what a mighty sound and also the synthesizer flights sound awesome! Again the mediocre vocals don't add an extra dimension to the music but the exciting keyboards and dynamic rhythm-section are caressing my ears.

4. Vivaldish (5.39) : This tribute to Vivaldi could have come from a Trace album, what a virtuosic keyboards (great Hammond sound) along some fine flute sounds.

5. Forest Birds'Fantasy (4.59) : The final song has strong classical overtones featuring a fluent rhythm, swirling keyboards and again some flute sounds.

I have to admit that I had expected a little bit more from this new album: more variety, some real highlights and better vocals. But in general Trespass makes pleasant and melodic, very entertaining keyboard-driven prog. If this trio matures in writing, they can become the new Trace!

This band from Israel released a good debut album, a rather surprising one.

The music is well diversified on this offering. A truly folkish opening number is more an appetizer to discover the epic title track. At times frenetic, this number seems to come straight from the ELP repertoire. Wild keys, great drumming and powerful bass. But Trespass also adds some medieval sounds (with flute) which differentiate them. Even the artwork and its renaissance flavour features this tendency.

Classical influence can't be denied during this long song (over twenty one minutes), and the vocal harmonies are really pleasant. They have seriously improved in comparison of their debut. This is an extremely varied piece of work. The highlight of course.

The renaissance style is back again with Ripples. Even if it is not a cover song, it holds a lot of Genesis influences. Great beat à la Dance On A Vulcano, but fully keyboards oriented of course. Very strong synthesizers, even if one might think that Banks is whispering the sounds.Watcher. has been listened to in Israel, for sure. Flute adds such a pleasant touch as well to this good track.

I'm not sure if Vivaldi would have appreciated the tribute Vivaldish. I don't like it very much but the work on the keyboards is wonderful. Not bad after all. And the closing number Forest Bird's Fantasy is almost a sountrack for a fairy tale. Classical and pompous. Pastoral (all these birds sounds) and childish.

It is encouraging that the band could release another good album. Let's just hope that they will continue on this good trend and promptly deliver a third one.

Three solid stars for Morning Lights.

Trespass was one of the most promissing progressive rock acts from Israel in late '90s. With the second album released in 2006 named Morning lights they really make a very solid album full of great surprises offer. The album is loaded with blistering galloping keyboards made by Gil Stein, what a great and inventive keyboard player, very much in same vein as the bands from 70s like ELP, Trace, Triumvirat, etc with very complicated long symphonic prog instrumental sections. Also in their sound are present jazz elements, some folk ones and even baroque atmosphere apear, all are melted very well and with great duels between musicians. Only 5 pieces, but the title track is clocking around 21 min, is a pure delight to the ears, really, is a fantastic prog rock journey and the best they had in their sleeves for sure. Elaborated passages, very nice and smooth guitar meets keyboards, nice elegant druming and an ok voice sung in english. I truly great album, I think little under rated, I mean this is better then their first offer and is for sure one of the best Israel ever released in this field. I don't find the low parts as other saw in this album, this is a very competent album that can be compared with any solid album in this genre without hesitation. Another worthy thing is the cover art, the gatefold cover is excellent, I like it a lot, very nice and invetive. One of the pleasent album I've heared lately, even I have the album for years I've only mange to take a close look in last few month. 4 stars easy, very good album that goes recommended.

Although the name of this Israeli trio might rather suggest resemblance with Genesis, much better references would be organ-heavy 70's bands such as ELP, Trace and Ekseption. Anyway, indeed Trespass has a very 70's-like retro sound. Their debut In Haze of Time (2002) is bold, fusion-approaching symphonic prog with plenty of soloing especially for keyboards. The multi-instrumental frontman and the main composer Gil Stein is pretty mediocre as a vocalist, but that's not a big minus because the energetic playing dominates the music.

Morning Lights is the band's second and final album, and undoubtedly an improvement over the debut. Jazz/fusion flavour is mostly gone, instead there are some delightful Baroque elements due to the addition of recorders and harpsichord to the sonic pallette. The 48-minute album contains three tracks of average length and two longer pieces. The epic title track (21:33) is fast-paced and quite impressive magnum opus loaded with mighty soloing for organ above all. Again the vocals are less enjoyable but not very central in the whole. 'Ripples' (12:17) starts with a harpsichord and soon the organ takes the leading role. Such a fantastic drive in this instrumentally oriented composition, and yet it doesn't get too self-indulgent in the Emersonian style. As mentioed in a previous review, rhythmically there's an occasional resemblance to the Genesis classic 'Watcher of the Skies'.

The closing instrumental piece 'Forest Bird's Fantasy' contains some birdsong effects and quite a lot of high-pitched flute or recorder. These elements get slightly irritating to my ears, but otherwise it's a powerful piece of full-blown, classically inspired symphonic prog. Trespass is well worth checking out for the listeners of organ-heavy symphonic prog in the vintage 70's style.