THE SUN AND THE EMBRYO

A delightful, unheralded little jewel of 90's sympho-prog from Brazil. Yes is the obvious influence here, with the breezy melodic style and the Jon Anderson-like vocals of Renato Jardim. Musically, there's some lovely flute playing adding a nice soft texture to the gorgeously melodic tunes. There's a bit of a Latin/tropical feel at times that lends it an unmistakably Brazilian touch.

This is definitely a group effort. No one instrumentalist stands out, they all are there to serve the compositions, which are wonderful. I've found that keyboard players in 90's Brazilian prog bands have a knack for choosing the most irritating synthesizer tones around, but Henrique Kunz is a master of subtlety. He won't blow you out of the water with Wakeman-esque runs, but in playing and in sound selection, he's the king of good taste.

Someone once called this "the best album Galadriel never made". It's hard to refute logic like that. A beautiful and excellent release.