UNDERGROUND COMMUNITY

Released in 2009, this is a nice album available as a free download on the band's website, although I for one will be sending off for a copy of the CD. Classified as neo-prog on the site, it probably, in my opinion, sits better in crossover prog, but wherever we argue about where it should be placed, this is an accomplished and very good debut work.

As a piece of trivia, this band have supported Marillion on Spanish dates, and it is this wonderful band to whom Harvest clearly owe much in loyalty and influences, certainly in their very knowing way of writing and performing catchy and instantly accessible pieces of music. The second track, Beyond The Desert, is one of the best pieces of pop/prog I have heard in quite a long time, and on this, as, indeed, everywhere, lead vocalist Monique Van Der Kolk absolutely shines. Hers is a beautiful voice which adds so much atmosphere and flavour.

There is one cover, and that is of the marvellous Marillion track Waiting To Happen, from Holidays In Eden. This track was a highlight of a relatively ordinary Marillion album for me, and to hear it reinterpreted in a far less "in your face" way by this band is an enjoyable experience. In addition, there is a piano sequence on She Tries lifted straight from that all time classic, Brave, and is no less enjoyable for showing its influence.

All of the band perform extremely well. The guitar solo on No Return by Jordi Prats is particularly evocative, lifting a track that sits deep in melancholy.

There is a foray into prog folk territory, with clear knowing nods to post indie sensibilities, on The Story Of Tim Ballas. Indeed, as I mentioned at the top, it really is very hard to classify this album, aside from stating that it is a collection of extremely well written, well performed, emotional, and enjoyable songs. Perhaps my only criticism is that the forays into harder material, such as Mara, are not as effective as much else here. Harvest are, I think, a band who should stick to the tuneful, because it is clearly what they are best at.

Definitely one for those who, like me, are a sucker for killer female vocals, this will also strongly appeal to those who don't have to have epics on their prog albums, and also to Marillion fans curious to explore a little more the bands associated with them.

As for a rating, 3.5, but rounded up to four simply by virtue of the exceptional maturity displayed on a debut work. This is a band that is definitely one to watch in the future.

It happened that I downloaded this album after finding the link in the "Official Review Our Music" forum. It happened that I put it on my Mp3 reader and it happened that I totally forgot it. Then it happened that after "Harmonium", my reader started playing "Harvest" and I started wondering who they were, trying to identify them without looking on the display, also because that display is very badly lighted, very small and I had no glasses....

My first impression of the album, listened just once when I downloaded it was of good neo- prog but what remained in my mind after that listen was just a Marillion cover, and that cover was what helped me to remember the band, but it means that I have listened to the 9 previious songs with enough concentration and I have discovered an excellent band with very good songs well played and with an excellent singer.

In the end the Marillion cover (Waiting to Happen) is just a cover and the voice of Monique van der Kolk sounds too sweet respect to the powerful high pitches of Steve Hogarth, but that voice sounds excellent in the rest of the album.

Monique's voice is remarkable. It's probably the word "Autumn" in the opener that seems inspired to Prevert's poetry, but she makes me think to Heather Findlay but also to Megan Wheatley of Dan Britton's project "All Over Everywhere". Voice apart, the song is good. I have left the neo-prog subgenre since some years but I can still recognize the good neo-prog when I hear it. This is very good.

"Beyond The Desert" is colored of Magenta while the "cold electronics" of "No Return" make me think to an artist that I suggested and was rejected from PA a couple of years ago, Kate Havnevik.

"The Story Of Tim Ballas" is opened by a 12 strings guitar very similar to Bowie's Space Oddity. It's just for few seconds then they are back to their genre with a song still in Marillion's chords even if I hear a connection to Mostly Autumn also on this song.

"Mara" is different. It's a song on which one can guess that this band is Spanish (or better, Catalan). There's also more rock respect to the previous tracks. Surely is one of the less commercial.

After a short instrumental, that's the title track, that would have deserved to be exploited better, a piano introduces a mellow song that's too mellow for my tastes. Nice as background during a travel by car but nothing more.

"Post Disaster" opens with keyboard and drum machine for about one minute of progressive electronic, then when Monique starts singing she trasnforms it into an excellent song made of many different elements. Maybe Magenta is the best reference for this song

"The Horizon" sounds as a Marillion song of the Hogarth era but the chorus gives me an idea of Mostly Autumn again. It's one of the best album's songs. However it introduces quite well the cover mentioned before. "Waiting to Happen" is an excellent song and I have to admint that I prefer the original version even if this is everything but bad.

"She Tries" is another good song. We have bass and keyboards reminding to Marillion while guitar and vocals are closer to Mostly Autumn.

A short acoustic song follows: "Night Comes Down" must be mentioned mainly because of it's position in the album: I think it comes exactly in the best moment. A few of chill-out before the closure that's darker. "Interrupted Broadcast" is the heaviest track. After a piano that is able to give an idea of what will follow we have drums and distorted guitar, then piano and vocals again. Here I think to Porcupine Tree.

This is a very promising debut album. They still sound too much like their bigger influencer but have good original ideas, too. Some songs may appear too commercial but again, when the music is good being commercial or not does mean nothing to me. The impression is that the band hasn't still found its original sound, but when they will they'll have the potentiality to become big. Also this album is already better than some Marillion albums.

3.5 stars that I want to round up to 4. They have been a pleasant surprise in my mp3 playlist and I hope they will be a more pleasant surprise with their following releases.

Barcelona is well known for producing some great Catalan Prog in the 70's, but it was time to give a shot to a ferw more modern-sounding groups during the millenium.So this is Harvest, formed in 2008 under female singer Monique van der Kolk, keyboardist Jordi Amela and guitarist Jordi Prats.After a 6-track demo drummer Alex Ojea and bassist Roger Vilageliu joined the project and in 2009 Harvest begun performing live (even supporting Marillion) as well as writing material for their debut.It was eventually a self-produced work on their own Red Phone Records under the title ''Underground Community'' with the cover artwork made by Antonio Seijas.

Armoured with a fantastic vocalist and an array of emotional melodies Harvest offered no less than 13 laid-back short tracks full of dreamy soundscapes, ethereal atmospheres and harmonic passages, strongly influenced by Hogarth-era MARILLION as well as the straighter tunes of female-fronted bands like MAGENTA, PAATOS, IONA or MOSTLY AUTUMN.Words can't describe Monique van der Kolk's sensitive, romantic and super-emotional chords and she is definitely the biggest weapon in Harvest'a array with her ethereal vibe and crystalline choirs.The music on the other hand is far from adventurous, this contains simple arrangements full of melodic/psychedelic guitars and very light background synthesizers (and occasionally organs), as it was seemingly written around Van Der Kolk's style of singing.The result is a mixture of light-weight Neo Prog with strong Post Rock passages and a few touches of Electronica, thus resembling the approach of PAATOS.The melodies are quite strong and the tracks rather memorable, always highlghted by one of the best female singers around, however the album faces a real problem in the abscence of any kind of diversity, as all tracks sound extremely similar, yet ''Underground Community'' hardly becomes boring along the way.There is also a nice cover version of MARILLION's ''Waiting to Happen'' from the ''Holidays in Eden'' album included.

Soft female-fronted Neo Prog/Post rock of decent inspiration, featuring a fantastic singer and above average atmospheres.Still I insist this band should make their sound more flexible in the future.Recommended.