FERVENT SEND

Fervent Send is one of those bands that has more than one incarnation which utilizes various core musicians as needed for the style of music that is required for each individual album. It is also a world-wide band, a collective of musicians spread throughout the world that, even though they live miles apart, can use technology to work together to create some memorable albums. The band is considered Eclectic Prog because of their ability to transcend various styles to create the sound they want and for their use of experimentalism across their albums.

In September of 2019, they released their 6th release in just 2019 alone, 4 of which are considered full-length albums. This album is entitled "The Magician King" and contains 4 tracks with a total run-time of over 34 minutes, so it lies on the border of being an EP and an LP. The album is available for download on Bandcamp. The musicians vary through the tracks, but Jon Du Bose (guitars, bass) and Jeff Eacho (flute, violin, mellotron, etc.) are the two constant forces through this album.

"Shaman" (6:36) starts the album and features Magnvs Mendez (drums), and Lobsang Kedrub (percussion and etc.). A minimal thump of percussion is the only thing anchoring this miasma of swirling and dissonant sound of droning and flowing instruments that create an extremely dissonant wall of sound. Before the 2 minute mark, however, the music instantly settles into a more structured sound (of sorts) when the drums demand a specific beat. The instruments stay mostly free form, but with less dissonance and more structure, though that structure flies out the window quite often. You can hear all of the layers as the sound is not really thick, but it does have a few layers that your brain can latch onto; swirling flutes, thumping bass, scratchy and tortured guitar and a somewhat standard drumming pattern anchoring it all. Though it is mostly a loose sound, it isn't necessarily meandering as each instrument sounds like it has purpose, and it all creates an experimental and somewhat psychedelic aura by the time it all finishes.

"Magician King" (10:44) also uses Lobsang Kedrub (percussion) and also brings in more guitars from Sebastien Siozade. This track is a bit heavier at first with squalling guitars and a flamboyant violin playing above it all. This soon calms down as strings take the most control, but allowing the thumping bass to set the mood. Layers of flute and violin start to wander around, but retain a mostly dark tone with the guitars complaining along, chiming and wailing. There is a lot of space and noise in this track, so the music breathes, but the layered guitars can also cause quite a ruckus at times. There is a nice mix of beauty and dissonance through it all. At 5 minutes, the bass starts to create some structure as the other instruments drone and flutter around softly. Again, there are plenty of sounds and effects to latch on to here, but there is still plenty of space in the music so that it isn't all just a chaotic wall of noise, everyone is given their chance to express themselves quite well.

"Lesser Being" (10:01) features Trey McLamb on drums backing up the psychedelic wanderings of Du Bose and Eacho. Minimal echoing flutes and guitar swirl around along with occasional effects. At 2 minutes, the music settles in to a structured drum pattern that starts and stops and allows the violin to establish a nice melody, however, this is soon interrupted by the drums changing the structure and causing the guitar to squeal and groan and the violin squeals and cries out. The drums tend to wander from structure to looseness and the instruments follow suit. At 4 minutes, things turn quite pastoral when the drums become more unstructured and allow the acoustic guitar to shine through as the flutes, violin and tonal percussion create some nice flourishes. Around 6 minutes, the drums start to roll along and a distant mid-Eastern melody comes along and we enter real experimental and psychedelic territory. The music reminds one of "A Saucerful of Secrets" when the drums enter that stage and the instruments play along in a loose improvisation. After 7 minutes, things smooth out again, and then a new, more standard pattern works itself out with the drum pattern and everything seems more structured. This gets interrupted by occasional pauses, but the pattern continues through the rest of the track.

"Fortune Teller" (7:26) brings in Santiago Fradejas on guitars and Magnvs Mendez on drums. Some interesting effects starts it all off sounding like a happy space jam, but it quickly turns dark with the extra guitar layers, and the flutes try their best to lighten it up, but can't really loosen the dark hold by the guitars. Whispering spoken vocals are heard for a short time. The heavy texture continues, yet, again, there is still plenty of breathing room around the improvising and noise effects. The flutes continue to occasionally contrast against the bass and noisy, grumbling guitar and this creates quite a nice and interesting texture.

The music is quite loose and experimental on this album, but the one thing that sets it apart from other instrumental and experimental jams is that this music plays around with space a lot better, not drowning the listener in chaotic noise jams, but instead allow the music to breathe with ample space in most cases. I really love the sound of this, plus the fact that the percussion and drums alternate from free jams to structured patterns, consantaly giving the listener variety in the sound as it wanders from odd experimental passages while providing "handles" that the listener can grab a hold of along the way in order to establish reference points among the looser passages. It all works out quite well in the end, and the shorter run time makes sure it doesn't wear out it's welcome, even though I would have been just as happy with a few more tracks. Those that love their music experimental, but not over the top, should enjoy this album, but the music is mostly quite dark, as is the case with most of Fervent Send's music.

Fervent Send is an Eclectic Prog collective of musicians from several different countries that was brought together by Jon du Bose of Lenoir, North Carolina. The current line up of this band consists of Jon Du Bose (guitars, bass, and various instruments as needed), Magnvs Mendez (drums, percussion), Lobsang Kedrub (percussion and various instruments as needed), Jason Rubenstein (mellotron, moog, keys), Jeff Eacho (flute, violin, cello, and other various instruments as needed), Sabastien Siozade (guitars), Gauthier Trumel (drums, percussion and various instruments as needed), Colin Robins (sax, guitars and various instruments), Trey McLamb (drums, percussion), and Myriam Martian (voice), and Robert Knox (drums). Their music can vary from one album to the next, and certain members of the collective might be used on one album, but not on another all depending on the sound and style that the collective is trying to create. This has led to the band performing as splinter groups, though always under the name of Fervent Send. Also, sometimes other artists are called on to perform with the band, much in the same way that King Crimson created their "ProjeKcts".

The EP known as "Bill Laswell Picks My Kids Up from Kindergarten" is one such album which was released in August of 2019. The album utilizes four of the Fervent Send members, namely EARCHO, KNOX, DuBOSE, and SIOZADE. These members of the collective were utilized to create a psychedelic/space rock style for this EP. (The manner in which the collective shifts and reshapes itself for different albums to create different styles are the main reason they are considered Eclectic.) This album contains only 2 tracks and has a total run-time of 26 minutes.

The first track is "Boppin' Bobby Fripp Finds Dead Flies in His File Cabinet" (8:16). The music begins in a mysterious style with a heavy bass line and guitars with cymbal rolls and such. As the music continues, mellotron, flute, violin and other instruments get added in creating a nice sound that moves from nice and smooth to dark and heavy quite easily as it rolls along. The psychedelic/space rock style is there, acting more like texture behind some really nice melodies and solos that switch up consistently as the background acts more as the foundation anchoring it all together. This really creates an excellent and dynamic musical style that is really much different than the psych/space rock sound you might be use to. Around the 7th minute, there is a definite turn for more heaviness and dark texture as the guitars become more solid and the violin takes complete control in a sweeping solo. The whole thing comes across quite spectacularly, and even at 8 minutes, it leaves you wishing it could just continue on.

The 2nd track is the title track "Bill Laswell Picks Up My Kids from Kindergarten" (17:56). This time, the music starts out smoother and rolls along as soft drums and jangly guitars play in a harmony that is just a bit off creating some unease in the rambling smoothness of it all. The overall sound is a bit hazier than the first track and this time the ties to psych/space rock are much more evident. The musical foundation just rolls along with occasional un-emphasized improvisation from layers of flutes and keys manage to stay unfocused enough to sound more like layers all melted together that float right along with the background. On occasion, you can hear a guitar, synth or violin break out of the layered sound only to quickly return to the meshed sound of the band. At 8 minutes, the beat becomes more pronounced and so does the guitar melody that alternates on a set of two note sequences that back and forth. A churning low synth starts to stir things up and this brings in an intense set of quickly strummed guitar chords that carry a short and dark melody that repeats itself. Intensity continues to build as the music rolls on and soon, spacey effects join in. The effects eventually break up the guitar riff and the drums level things back out to the smoother, but this time quicker, beat. Dark effects continue as the guitar hashes out a new repeating thematic element before the 14th minute mark. Subtle changes keep things moving forward as it goes along to the end.

As usual, the collective proves that these musicians can work together quite effectively in creating the sound they want to create for each individual project they do, and that even though they live countries and oceans apart, they can still coalesce their parts to create some excellent sound. I find the first track to be a masterpiece and the second track is more loose tying it more to the space rock style, and it does carry on for quite a while, but is still quite excellent as different instruments stand out in a melodic soundscape. The EP is a great testament to the talent of these musicians with my only complaint being that I wish the first track was much longer and the 2nd one about 5 minutes shorter.

Headed by guitarist and composer Jon Du Bose this collective is acting like a really productive unit in recent years. But I doubt that they ever were undertaking the standard procedure hereby. Eh, I mean making a date, and getting together in a studio for a couple of hours to record some stuff. That simply because the participants are coming from all around the world, particularly Europe and the American continent. Anyhow, it sounds surprisingly organic, experimental and inspired so much the more. At least when it comes to this album, which they have entitled 'Denna's Room', for some reason referring to Manuel Denna, who contributed the album art.

'This ain't the prog your mommy listened to', they are complaining. Yep, don't expect a standard progressive rock production. The embracing songs Banshee and Tumble Down may slightly figure as the outliers here, featuring prominent drums a bit King Crimson reminiscent. Moreover the mood comes close to ... let's say ... the acclaimed Japan reunion Rain Tree Crow from 1991 for example. Easily to reference when it all fades into the extended Hermit, the ultimative album highlight. An outstanding piece in two sections. Get ready for eclectic and atmospheric soundscapes, based on a sophisticated backbone as for the songwriting. Garnered with some lovely flute and string layers, contributed by Jeff Eacho. Beautiful!