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-great instrumentals (particularly track 3, which features a thrilling violin/guitar interplay that is both virtuosic and full of emotion),

-masterly crafted songs (track 2, 4 and 7, to name only some examples, which contain a perfectly balanced amalgam of voice and instruments, full of beautiful melodies and wonderful arrangements, great solos included),

-great guitar work in all the 8 tracks, from a guitarrist that is more into creating emotion and moods with every note he plays instead of trying to overwhelm the listener with hundreds of notes per second; many good examples, but I would choose track 3 and track 8 to show how a wonderful guitar work contributes to the general mood of the piece,

-refreshing sounds and unusual timbres coming from the keyboards, which perform an excellent and very imaginative job along the whole album,

-drums and percussion work of artisan quality, providing not only rhythm but also color to the pieces (all tracks, but listen only to tracks 1, 2 or 8 to have an example of this),

-what else I hear in this music? I hear risk and experimentation in this music, I hear mainly prog but also jazz undercurrents informing the pieces, I hear, yes, touches of Gilmour, of Crimson, of Wilson, of Weather Report, maybe some Bill Frisell, .....but, all in all, somehow, a unique sound, a sound that seems to be peculiar to this band, I cannot think of any other contemporary prog rock band that quite sounds like TEMPANO. Listen to the wonderful track 8, maybe the highest point in the album, to have an idea of the stories this band wants to tell: this track is a good summary of that blend of experimentation, tradition, prog and jazz undercurrents, exceptional guitar and keyboards work (also sax, by the way: a key ingredient in the piece), carefully crafted bass, drums and percussion work -that this music contains. But, more importantly, once you forget how the music is actually made, this piece of music is a good example of the carrousel of emotions that flow through the album, all the instruments, including the voice and sound effects, working towards the creation of a song of a strange quality: sometimes luminous, sometimes sombre, sometimes even disquieting, a true meeting of opposites, as the title implies.

A great album, no doubt. I can't stop listening to it and discovering new nuances and subtleties every time.

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