NOCTURNE

This is the third album of the band with a new bass player in the name of David Greenway who replaced Jayjay Quick in the Spring of 2018. The first track is instrumental with a dark atmosphere, the keys setting this mood nicely before the guitar kicks in. "Moonlight" is another instrumental track united by a duel between the piano and the guitar with again some haunting atmosphere in the middle of the song that brings everything in another level."In the Dead of the Night" is not the UK cover! This time the vocals make their first appearance with saxophone, the song keeps the dark atmosphere of the album. And finally the epic final song "The Child Within" has that Gilmour style of guitar, some beautiful keyboards melodies with the fretless bass sound in the back. If you enjoy melodic, dark prog rock music and are not afraid of going out in the night, this is something for you...

THE EMERALD DAWN was formed in 2011 as a trio in St. Ives which is located in the Cornwall region of southwest England and began as a trio that consisted of Tree Stewart (keyboards, vocals), Ally Carter (guitars, tenor sax, keyboards) and Tom Jackson (drums.) While there was no bass player on their 2014 debut "Searching For The Lost Key," for their 2017 sophomore release "Visions," Jayjay Quick, became the band's official bassist but also brought along the extra talents of electric violin and cello. Quick would quickly disband after one album and for the band's latest release NOCTURNE, David Greenaway picks up the bass duties.

While generally classified as neo-prog, THE EMERALD DAWN develops a more eclectic sort of prog that not only takes cues from the bigwigs King Crimson and Pink Floyd but also adds some aspects of classic Moody Blues and even McDonald & Giles. Add to that a complex mix of classical music inspired by the great works of third stream artist Jan Garbarek, Dmitri Shostakovich, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Jean Sibelius as well as the jazz world heard especially in Tom Jackson's stellar drumming style and the occasional squawk of the sax.

NOCTURNE is a vague concept album that as the title insinuates deals with all things that come out at night but i'm not talking about barn owls and zombies, i speak more of an emotional manner and the overall gist of the album is how things appear different than what they actually are with the nighttime as the main focal point such as when your imagination plays tricks on you in the darkness of the moonlit nocturnal hours. All of this is expressed in the four lengthy tracks (the opener is just a quick thirty second narrated intro.) While the tracks the first three lengthy tracks range from eight and a half minutes to nearly eleven with the grand finale "The Child Within" clocking in close to the 21 minute mark.

For the most part NOCTURNE is an instrumental ride into the sunless hours that creep into the early morning but occasional vocals find their way into the mix offering a break from the mostly keyboard driven melodic developments that create haunting atmospheres and complex and unusual harmonic structures that depict images about this musical journey taking the listener from nightfall until the first rays of the sun usher in a whole new day. Despite the brilliant mix of free flowing rhythms, David Gilmour inspired guitar wails and classical motifs that offer interesting compositional fortitude, NOCTURNE never flaunts the complexities intertwined within and retains an easily accessible beauty that drifts by chiefly in mid-tempo but occasional bursts into heavier sections.

NOCTURNE is a major step up from the band's previous works as it incorporates more varying time signatures and musical styles that are spotlighted throughout as well as the entire band sharing the songwriting duties this time around which give the album a more democratically inspired infusion of ideas which implement unusual musical scales and even less common juxtapositions of classical, jazz and rock elements. Just like the cover art depicts, NOCTURNE is a sonic journey through the darkened woodlands where while navigating through, stimulates a fertile imagination of all the possibilities of what lurks behind ever corner as the journey progresses.

After the brief "Prologue" narrates in a regal English poetic prose, "As Darkness Falls" begins the mind trip of runaway concepts with heavy rock guitar riffs, sweltering atmospheric keyboard counterpoints and Jackson's percussive drive. Greenaway also dishes out some stellar fretless bass lines, a winning feature of NOCTURNE. "As Darkness Falls" provides an interesting building up of tension that allows "Moonlight" to scale back the intensity and evokes more of a mythological representation of the night. "In The Dead Of The Night" is the first track to contain vocals which includes both Stewart and Carter finding roles in the vocal accoutrements. The addition of a jazzy lounge beat and soulful sax squawks create a completely different sounding track than the previous two.

A significant portion of the album is decided to the near 21 minute closer "The Child Within," which is a psychological exploration of the darkened night of the inner soul and how a brief moment of realization can release the subconscious from a lifetime of fear and pent up trauma. This one features Tree Stewart on vocals and thick atmospheric density that finds bluesy guitar solos erupting from the brume. The track builds up the intensity as the tempo slowly ratchets up and Stewart's ethereal wordless vocals evoke heavier layers of synthesized ambience and guitar heft. This by far is the spookiest track on the album and one that warrants its lengthy playing time as it shape shifts into varying segments that segue effortlessly from one dark keyboard soaked passage to the next.

THE EMERALD DAWN has diversified the stylistic approach quite broadly with a brilliant mix of the aforementioned influences and musical elements. The mythological connotations of the darkened NOCTURNE nights narrated throughout sound utterly brilliant and the compositions are brilliantly unique in the neo-prog world with the infusion of various classical composers influences as well as the jazzy touches which put the band in a world of their own. NOCTURNE is a must for all lovers of keyboard fueled atmospheric prog that exists in the dark and offers stellar rock guitar, bass and drum performances with jazzy extra touches within classically structured motifs that breeze along like a zephyr at the witching hour with satisfying rock orient crescendoes.

Ahead of its official release date I was kindly requested by the band to review their third album 'Nocturne', so first of all my thanks to them for the privilege. I have to say that I did not know their first two albums so it was a new band for me. According to the liner notes, 'Nocturne' should be listened to preferably alone and in the dark, since the music is intended to bring about feelings and sensations which one may experience when in darkness. And the general atmosphere of the album is indeed haunting, not dark music as such, but dreamy and ethereal, more oriented to conveying moods and atmospheres than to keeping you busy with different things at once. The nice artwork by Katrina (Tree) Stewart complements this mood well. Besides a short vocal introduction we have 3 tracks with running times between 8 and 11 minutes and one final long track clocking 20m45s.

After the aforementioned short vocal introduction 'Prologue', a distorted guitar gives way to the first proper song the instrumental 'As Darkness Falls', the guitar keeps its motif shifting octaves as the keyboards alternate between moods and soloing, we then get a more jazzy ¾ section and an atmospheric 7/8 section before returning to the main theme.

The second track 'Moonlight' is also instrumental, beginning with slow piano and switching to an almost hypnotic mid- tempo central section. Again the music focusses mostly on soloing over chord progressions rather than using proper melodies ? choruses.

'In the Dead of the Night' (nothing to do with the UK song) is the first track with vocals although these are mostly limited to singing the song title in repetitive fashion, first by Tree and later in the song by Ally with Tree doing the backing parts. The fretless bass and the sax provide a welcome variety in the soundscape, and this track has indeed a more jazzy feel to it.

The final track is the 20 min 'The Child Within' and I find it the strongest. It has more clearly defined melodies and more developed lyrics, taking advantage of Tree's nice voice timbre. It moves through different sections with synth pads, organ and also some fretless bass, some different time signatures and guitar solos which often remind of Pink Floyd.

This is a pleasant album to listen to but I find it a bit too simple for my personal taste. Too much oriented to moods and atmospheres, with plenty of soloing over chord progressions and not containing enough interesting melodies or musical resources. If you fancy such atmospheric Prog you will enjoy the album.

Nocturne, released in February of 2019, is the 3rd album released by UK Neo-Prog band 'The Emerald Dawn'. The band consists of Tree Stewart, the founder of the band, on keyboards, flute, acoustic guitar and vocals, Ally Carter on electric guitar, guitar synthesizer, tenor saxophone, keyboards and vocals, David Greenaway on fretless and regular bass, and Tom Jackson on drums. The album runs about 51 minutes and features 5 tracks, one that only lasts 30 seconds and another that lasts over 20 minutes, so 4 of the tracks are quite long.

The 'Prologue' starts with a spoken vocal against a deep drone. This is followed by the 10+ minute instrumental 'As Darkness Falls' starting with the guitar announcing the beginning of the track. This is quickly joined by the band playing a dark and mysterious repetitive melody and making variations around it. After a few minutes of this, synths play alone giving an orchestral effect, staying dark. Eventually, a guitar and a synth trade off the spotlight against a moderate tempo, but still with the dark atmosphere. The guitar seems to be mixed low in the mix, even though it is one of the main instruments, but the synths are mixed to the front when they take their turns, and this makes the entire production seem very uneven. As it continues, this seems even more apparent. At 8 minutes, we get a nice guitar solo to a rhythm that finally settles in. But it is still mixed way too low. Later, this is changed to a more fuzzy guitar that isn't mixed low. All of this uneven production is very distracting.

'Moonlight' starts with a solo piano playing a nice melody. After about 2 minutes, the rest of the band joins. This seems like it could be a decent track with a rousing guitar solo, but the production seems quite stifled. The song goes into a repetitive foundation and the guitars get the most time on this 8 minute instrumental. The solo piano comes back in before the 6 minute mark and before long, the guitar accompanies. The tempo speeds up during the last minute as the music crescendos, but it finally ends sofly with a predictable ending.

'In the Dead of Night' starts of dreamily with vibes and synth orchestration. The band comes in with a heavy bass line and the first vocals. The vocals have an echo effect to give it all a psychedelic feeling and a sax improvises around it all making for a somewhat jazzy effect. The vocals are not very lyrical as they just repeat the title. When the vocals end, there is a sudden burst of orchestral synths and then guitars come in shadowing the synths at first and then improvising off of their melody. Halfway through, we get a heavy organ (synths) that sound like a haunted house theme, then the jazzy bass starts up again with deeper vocals this time repeating the title while female vocals try to make the song turn to a bad gothic imitation. Of course, you still get the stifled production sound. After this section, as things intensify, it actually starts to get interesting, but it's too little, too late.

'The Child Within' is the last track and also the track over 20 minutes. It starts with the dark synths like most of the rest of the album and Ally does the lead vocals this time. The lyrics are a bit corny about a child lost in the darkness with no one to sing her a lullaby. At the 3 minute mark, it is time to cue the guitar for its sad solo. Drums finally come in at 4 minutes, but everything else continues as before. The guitar stays in the spotlight for quite a while, even past the 7 minute mark before synths interrupt and the song pauses while we get thunder and bell effects. Next the track finally speeds up a bit with a churning organ and the vocals start with that gothic feel again. At 11 minutes, the tempo changes again with swirling synths, and then more vocals after which there is a fast synth solo building intensity. Another change around 14 minutes with more spooky sound effects and a new foundation against which there is a nice guitar/keyboard exchange. The last several minutes are devoted to synth and guitars improvising over a basic foundation.

The biggest complaint I have is in the production, which unfortunately makes every thing else sound dated and stilted. The mix is not good on this one. I also find the music good, but too simple in that all of the solos are done against a basic background, thus making the music less than challenging. There are times when the music seems to want to go in a gothic direction, which doesn't work very well in this instance and instead it comes across as a bit tacky. I have a hard time giving this any more than 3 stars, and even then I am rounding it up because some of the musicianship is good, but the production is very uneven and just ruins the overall sound.

Let me jump on the wave of enthusiasm that has dawned on 'The Emerald Dawn' in the wake of their recent release 'To Touch The Sky' (2020). I started listening to their albums on bandcamp and found myself listening to three of their records in a row. The Emerald Dawn, I must say, has found a very original take on the neo-progressive genre. Their sound, style and atmosphere reminds me a bit of krautrock groups like Amon Duul II, Can, Dzyan and Gila. Or like Grobschnitt's 'Solar Music'. This is a neo-prog band that records its albums live in a big room (I imagine) and benefits from the flow and liveliness that such a set-up creates. As a listener you feel like your witnessing a performance of an obscure group of musicians that have really created a single mind; creating brooding, atmospheric, gothic, sometimes jazzy, blackened (without the metal) neo-prog. The synths, organs and piano's of Katrina "Tree" Stewart are leading and she provides some psychedelic, amateurish (in a pleasant way) haunting vocals as well (perhaps a bit like Gong's Gilly Smith). The keyboards don't sound at all like a direct digital recording does and benefit from the roomy vibes. Some of the synth sounds remind me of Vangelis. Alan "Ally" Carter plays some fierce psychelic rockguitar - untamed, unrefined, yet very in sync with the music in a gutsy way. Again, the live sound adds a layer of obscure finesse. David Greenaway has a nice pumping chorus (fretless) bass sound and the loose drums Thomas Jackson add to 'in the moment' vibe of the record. The album has four long pieces and there isn't a weak moment to be found. Though there's room for improvisation, the music does sound well structured (with a sense of direction). The recording sounds un-edited and has some small mistakes in it, but 'The Emerald Dawn' is charming that way. I myself find the recording sound very warm and lively, but it does sound more like a live album than a studio recording. For this much appreciated hack of the genre and a very enjoyable listen I will gladly reward a four star rating.