Note: from this point on I intend to review mostly new albums here, as in, ones from this or last year. As I listen to quite a lot of new albums but don't always have the time to write a full review of them, this is where a lot of them will end up. Of course, there's nothing to say that something that really impresses me won't eventually get the full treatment, as has always been the case here. Also, I may throw in the odd older album from time to time --- nothing's written in stone --- but generally expect to see newer albums, especially those from the current year, being mini-reviewed here from now on.
It's okay but a bit slow and plodding
Artiste: Gamma Proxima
Nationality: Finnish
Album: Home beyond nowhere
Year: 2013
Label: ?
Genre: Acoustic rock/Ambient
Tracks:
Soil
Endeavour Pt 1
The search
Augur
For a futile wait
Illusion of pleasure
Eventual collapse
Endeavvour Pt 2
Rooms
Worthwhile?
Chronological position: Debut album?
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Very relaxing, very ambient and entrancing
Best track(s):This isn't really an album you pick individual tracks out to focus on; it's more an overall experience: not quite one continuous piece of music but not too far from that.
Worst track(s): See above
Comments: I just hate it when bands use a Facebook page as their "official site". Well, let me qualify that. I hate it when they do that, and put the tiniest bit of information about themselves up. I mean, this band are impossible to track down. Not sure what genre they fit into but they come up on none of my usual music sites (so not metal , prog or AOR) and when you go looking for them on Google you get equally nothing. All I have found out so far is that they're a duo from Finland, and I think this may be their first album. It may also be self-released as I can't find any label information.
All of which is annoying, because this is some of the most beautiful, laidback and heartfelt music I've heard since Buckethead's "Electric sea" album. It seems to be a mix of mostly acoustic guitar with some synth and possibly piano backing, and it's very relaxed indeed. It slips into a semi-prog vein at times, while at others it borders on soft folk or even ambient. The tracks don't exactly flow one into the other but it's often the case that you suddenly realise one has completed and you're into another: the music is quite similar which is not to say bad or samey, but the same general themes and melodies do tend to thread through the whole album.
All I can really do here is pick out some highlights: nice atmospheric acoustic guitar in
For a futile wait, little more upbeat with
Eventual collapse, though I feel that's probably a good description of my interest in the album at the moment. The problem is that there's nothing that stands out and catches your attention. It's all really good music and very pleasant, but after the initial glow wore off I found myself becoming a little bored with this. If you're going to make an instrumental album --- unless it's intended to be all one piece of music --- you need to be able to differentiate the tracks and make them differ from each other, and the worry here is that all of the material on this album sounds so similar that it becomes hard to identify one from the other, leading to a sense of nice-but-so-what? But I still like it. I just don't love it as I did the first time I heard it.
Overall impression: Just really ambient and relaxing. Would have been nice to have had some standout tracks, but everything kind of melds together, although in a very good way.
Intention: Try to find out more about this artiste: not an easy task, from my research so far!