I A M

Since I heard "A" here in PA, I tried to find this album to be able to listen to him, after all it is a solo project of Tomas Bodin, who though not my favorite keyboard (I do not like very playful in their keyboards the Flower Kings), certainly had something to offer me.

And here it is: "I AM", an ambitious project who Bodin treats the delicate subject of God (delicate for some, but not for me, who worships in spirit and in truth) through different points of view: philosophical, religious, scientific ... the letters do not matter much, as I'm more interested in music.

That in turn is exceptional. The album consists of three epic strong (we could see it as an extended version of the structure of "Close to the Edge" or "Relayer"), each named after a letter of the title (ours that he had lot of work to name the songs ...).

"I" begins with some strange sounds before the vocals enter. These grow to 2 minutes until the song explodes into a perfect jam with keyboards a la The Flower Kings (ie, a la Yes), and 4 minutes to turn the vocals. I'm not a fan of this singer, because sometimes he exaggerates the treble and the music is uncomfortable, but this is offset by large instrumental sections - although these are broken by strange places, like a strange mix of jazz and phones (?). After moving in several directions the song comes to a strange but beautiful anti-climax that builds attention to the next song.

"A" is the best song on the disc, a soft piano after a heavy guitar riff takes the song to an interesting and easy the "verse-chorus-verse-chorus," and after a section reaches a more- jazzy vocals after this part, there is a very instrumental part dragged, which will accumulate until you reach what I call "the peak of the album", the singer has a conversation with God, and it is simply stunning. Then a pianette repeating the main theme of "The Truth Will Set You Free" from TFK (this phrase is also sung here, but slightly modified), reaching the best part: a guitar solo with an excellent touch of blues, just the way I like it. The music grows until reaching its first climax, and soon after the battery leads to another instrumental jam that ends in a climax even more powerful. The last two minutes are filled with sounds of female voices making requests, while providing a guitar and bass support.

"M" is the weakest song, their first 4 minutes are somewhat forgettable, but then she gets a very heavy section that takes a long time. Unfortunately the music can not keep, but to 11 inutes she calms down and starts a building to a climax that, I thought it would be monstrous. But when the song seems to be dragging its climax and ends brutally open even more brutally. Pfffff ... I smell the air of disappointment.

In the end, this is a good album, although I expected more. 4 stars

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