HALF PAST FOUR

The band is comprised of Kyree Vibrant (lead vocals), Dmitry Lesov (bass guitar, chapman stick, vocals), Igor Kurtzman (keyboards, vocals), Constantin Necrasov (guitars, vocals) and Marcello Ciurleo (drums). I had a look at their website, and I loved this statement 'Like the best of progressive rock music, the listener cannot predict where the band will take them next. It is this shifting flow of sound and feeling that distinguishes Half Past Four. They are an aural tapestry, weaving 50+ years of musical influences into mellifluous melodies and rhythmic resonances that take their listeners on a journey to states that are both fresh and familiar.' This is music that is truly progressive, refusing to sit within one particular style or another, moving and changing so that Kyree can be singing sweetly one minute or virtually shouting the next with a totally different timbre, while the band all of a sudden is based around the piano, whereas at others it is definitely the guitar, or is it the bass, but there again the drum patterns are all over the place'..

This is one of the most exciting and vibrant progressive bands I have come across in recent years, producing music that is complex, refusing to conform to what anyone feels should be produced, and is definitely progressing as opposed to regressing. This five-track mini-album is only 26 minutes long, and I can only hope that we will soon hear a full-length release. As for me, I'm going to have to go back and discover their first two albums, as music as good as this screams out to be heard.

'It Strikes You' and 'Good Things' prepare the listener for more complexity and jazz nuances to come, but they are decent songs that open the album on a dynamic note, though the album really takes off mid way through. Classic prog influences abound; 'Landmines' is sprinkled with King Crimson rhythms on guitar sounding very much like Fripp's style; and 'Cool Water' has a heavy guitar riff like Atomic Rooster or Uriah Heep, and then there are Pink Floyd style nuances in the verses and harmonies. There may even be Rush influences as they are Canadian of course, notably the lead breaks may be influenced by Alex Lifeson's style. This track even has a string section enhancing the sound.

'Spin The Girl' is an oddity with weird time sig changes and a speeded up cabaret feel. The piano freakout and hyper jazz works well to make this stand out. The crazy synth solo is followed by a fret melting lead guitar workout. 'Fate' opens with grandiose piano tinkling and a hypnotic guitar motif, before settling into broken time sig and quietened vocals. Vibrant gives it her all here and the piano is a constant presence with jazz tendencies and complex tempo shifts.

'I Am Lion' has more Frippian touches from Necrasov and there is a great keyboard sound from Kurtzman. Both musicians motor along with fluency and Vibrant takes up the vocal reigns admirably. The track builds eventually to a wonderful break where guitars solo and the signature switches momentarily. 'Wolf' begins with some dialogue, a bit of Wolfman Jack style vox and a weird fractured fairy tale lyrical vibe. The oddball sound is distinct and experimental featuring piano sprinkled over quirky percussion and bass. It is all tongue in cheek at this point reminding me of Frank Zappa, especially the odd meter and ironical humorous content.

'Darkness Knew' opens with a cool bassline and fragmented tempos, then Vibrant's sweet vibrato caresses. This is again a jazzy cruiser that simply gives a pleasant aroma despite the dark lyrics. The wah wah lead break is sensational capping off another great track. 'The Earth' closes proceedings with some off kilter time sigs that are hard to grasp on but delightfully so. The piano and guitar have a veritable workout as Vibrant takes over on vox, with some of her best work especially on the high register. There are even some male back up vocals but the real drawcard is the incredible musicianship and melody on this one. Zappa like fragmented guitar competes with blindingly complex rhythms and then a smooth synth solo sweetly saturates the song.

In essence Half Past Four are a fantastic band who like to experiment with a wide array of musical styles. Their jazzy interludes are refreshing and as far as guitar workouts, this album has a plethora of lead breaks to savour. The vocals are delightful from Vibrant and overall there are enough magical moments and infectious hooks for this to drag you back for many listens. An excellent 2013 release with innovation and a bold approach from a group who know how to remain unique and yet true to prog rock at its finest.

Half Past Four is among those bands that appears to really dedicate themselves into exploring the progressive part of progressive rock. Even after two albums and repeated listens to their material I have yet to find an accurate manner in which to describe their specific style. There's just way too many details floating around, too many nuances, too much variety.

A recurring feature is the band's tendency to include jazz-oriented details. Bass and drums in particular tends to perform their respective motifs in a fairly jazz-inspired manner. The drummer does know when to settle back into a nice and steady routine and when to utilize the more sophisticated or perhaps even partially improvised jazz oriented delivery, while the bassist is just as skilled delivering subtle masked motifs when needed and more upfront textures when appropriate. The wandering piano motifs, almost just as much of a feature, share many of the same tendencies. Gently wandering and melodic when needed, more adventurous to the point of improvisational when the composition allows for such features.

The guitar follows suit with the descriptions given to the other instruments, more or less. Gently wandering light toned motifs are applied with the same ease as dark, gritty and brooding riffs, sometimes even explosive at that. Occasionally erupting into a majestic combination with the organ, the aforementioned piano is replaced from time to time with alternative keyboard textures just to mention that aspect to, up to and including organ and some marvelous synth soloing. Returning to the guitars again, this is also a band that appears to enjoy incorporating a fair few Frippian details into their compositions. Odd tonal ranges, what might be described as angular guitar motifs I guess, eerie harmonies and subtle dissonances. Both when exploring a more jazzoriented territory and when the movement in question is of a more regular variety.

In a totality which also has ample room for whimsical compositions, Wolf a perfect example of just that, the sheer totality of it all does become fairly challenging to sort into a specific box. The music is challenging and consists of a plethora of details and contrasts indeed. A certain taste for jazz or fusion is probably needed to enjoy all the antics of this band aye, but it isn't strictly required. Because amongst all of the details mentioned as well as all of the aspects not mentioned or overlooked, this is also a band that has a fairly strict focus on melody. Movements light in tone and strong in melody are key features, many of the darker toned, contrasting passages are more straight forward in nature with a certain emphasis to them being a contrast to the less intense and more detailed constructions. A description that does come with a fair few exceptions, just to make matters a bit...interesting.

The strong, accessible and distinct melodies is still a key feature, and emphasizing that aspect of the material we have vocalist Kyree Vibrant. Her last name, if not an artistic one, provides a fairly accurate description on her voice and her impact for this band. Vibrant indeed. Smoothly going from jazz-oriented and whimsical to powerful and emotional, always emphasizing the key melody of the composition. A key elements that makes Half Past Four's eclectic but accessible amalgam of progressive rock work as well as it does.

While Half Past Four is a quality act and their album "Good Things" is an aptly named production, I have a hard time describing a potential key audience for this band. A slight taste for jazzrock and a general taste for melodies is required, as is a taste for music that warrants a description as both challenging, detailed and accessible. Those who enjoy the likes of District 97 will probably love this band, and I wouldn't be all that surprised if fans of early 80's King Crimson would enjoy this band quite a lot too, even if drastically different in style.

The style of the group is a quirky, flexible and energetic Progressive/Art Rock, which draws various influences, starting from pop sensibilities and ending even in furious Jazz realms.At times they remind of a more accesible ECHOLYN with bits from MAGENTA, minus the strong symphonic vibrations, as Half Past Four's sound is closer to Prog/Fusion.However the album is filled with some nice melodies and good guitar solos among the song-oriented pieces.Kurtzman seems to be the central figure of an album that is far from trully keyboard-oriented.An accomplished musician, which offers jazzy electric piano paces, smooth piano lines and nervous synthesizers with a great comfort.The guitar parts of the album are also pleasant, especially some great solos.Half Past Four's music contains tons of Jazz/Fusion influences, always supported by accesible song-based arrangements: plenty of jazzy pianos, some Latin-influenced drumming, some sax solos, while even the synth-driven parts have a discreet Fusion touch.But of course there are a lot more going in this band's approach, which contains also hints of Pop, Cabaret Music and Country.My only disagreement comes from Kyree Vibrant's voice, which is expressive and dynamic, but not on the same par as the trully artistic vibe of Half Past Four's music.

A nice debut, which can find fans among different music genres: From quirky Art/Pop to powerful Prog/Fusion.Lots of styles in a solid mix of accesible tunes.Recommended.

Aside from the uncommon name of the band, their music caught my attention right in the beginning. It was an open window inside a closed Prog Rock room. So much variety, so much theater inside their music. It was love at first hearing and their album didn't leave my MP3 player for a long, long time. Half Past Four is an Art Rock band in the pure sense of the word, their music combines other fields of arts such as, poetry or theatre.

5 years after the release of their debut album and after a change in their line up here they are again, with their second album, Good Things (2013). Now the band is formed by Kyree Vibrant (vocals), Constantin Necrasov (guitars), Dmitry Lesov (bass and Chapman stick), Igor Kurtzman (keyboards) and Marcello Ciurleo (drums). Good Things (2013) was partially funded by an Indie GoGo campaign which the band did back in September 2011 and which raised over $2.200. Not the total they needed to fully cover their expenses of the recordings, but still a remarkable amount of money as for a new and fairly unknown band. This shows how powerful the band can be in the next years, they're building a strong fan base.

Like with their first album I've also received a promo copy of the new album, but this time 1 month before the official release and I could say one thing right after the first chords, the band stays on the good side of music. Everything they had learned in Rabbit In The Vestibule (2008) they applied very skillfully in Good Things (2013).

The absolutely great vocals of Kyree Vibrant still there, stealing the show in many occasions and better than before, tracks like 'Landmines' proves that. We have guitars lines that are dense like in the opening track 'It Strikes You' or 'All Day And All Night'. And it's clear that Igor Kurtzman's keyboards this time are more present and very well into place like in 'Rise' (that also rock the place out with a Rock n' Roll feeling). New drummer Marcello Ciurleo added a new dimension to the band and this time the basses are a little more 'into the face'. Both Dmitry Lesov's playing and the low tones in general. That was the one thing I didn't like on the first album, too much high frequencies, this time they're right on spot!

'Spin The Girl' is one of the most interesting tracks. Full of theatrical moments, great guitars and weird time signatures and vocals. The band has everything! Cabaret feeling on 'Fate', Space Rock in 'I Am Lion', humor in 'Wolf' and the weird tempo closing track, and personal favorite, 'The Earth' (Kyree strikes again here). Like I said they have everything.

Half Past Four is a real proof that Progressive Rock still can have high quality and not just regurgitate old clichés. With high doses of good imagination and humor, excellent musicianship, great songs and a brilliant vocalist Half Past Four will get there, trust me!

Thirteen quirky, offbeat yet highly melodic efforts are served up here, unpredictable efforts combining clean melodies and sophisticated compositional structures with dampened dissonant effects and rougher, more primitive musical elements as another central part of the package.

Quite a few numbers tends to explore musical territories that should sound familiar to fans of Gentle Giant, while others - at least in my ears - sounded more similar to an act like Madness in their stylistic expressions. And while quirky art rock and what I find to sound pretty much like ska make up some of the genres that have influenced this act, punk, jazz, ragtime, flamenco and even some tango inspired passages appear as well - some more often than others. Add in some offbeat humour Zappa would have approved and a vocalist that made me think of Toyah Wilcox and you -might- just have a notion of what this album is about.

While nowhere near avantgarde in style, this quirky yet melodic affair should be of interest to those who like challenging music - especially if they don't mind more than occasional dips into the mainstream musical pool.

The initial impression of "Rabbit in the Vestibule" may indeed be deceptive, and get the listener to find very little suggesting progressive rock, at least in any conventional sense. It is only as the album progresses, and then on further listens, that its true nature begins to unfold. Like another excellent crossover band, 3rd Degree, Half Past Four also engage in 'defiling perfectly good songs with prog', and this apparently sacrilegious act results in one of the most interesting records of the last few years.

A number of the songs on the album would indeed qualify as 'glorified' pop songs, with a traditional chorus-verse-chorus structure, and plenty of catchy hooks. Most of the tracks run between 2 and 5 minutes, and even the longest of them, "Biel" (clocking in at slightly over 8 minutes), sounds nowhere like a standard prog epic. However, even the shortest items, like opener "Missing Seventh", possess that indefinable quality that lifts them well above the average pop song. Moreover, the individual members of the band all display an impressive level of musicianship and songwriting skills - something that bodes well for the band's future.

Half Past Four's 'secret weapon', however, are Kyree Vibrant's distinctive, riveting vocals. Her delivery, witty and commanding at the same time, suits the band's quirkily attractive music to a T, and adds further interest to their compositions. With a reasonably long career as a singer, songwriter and filmmaker, and a musical background spanning various genres, she is a versatile vocalist who can tackle equally well intense, dramatic stuff such as "Biel" (possibly Kyree's finest moment on the album), or jazzy, relaxed, pieces like the Steely Dan-inspired "Strangest Dream". Hers is a voice that, at first, may not strike the listener as conventionally beautiful (in the way the dozens of more or less angelic sopranos fronting every other modern prog band can be), but whose charm and power are revealed at each listen.

The thirteen tracks featured on "Rabbit in the Vestibule" make for a variegated, often exhilarating listening experience. The slick interplay between the instruments, the diverse influences, the superb vocals keep the listener on their toes. Even though any 'classic' progressive elements are sprinkled judiciously throughout the album, and often come as a surprise - the spacey keyboard sounds in "Lullaby", the Middle Eastern vibe in "Salome", the asymmetrical drumming and bass line in "Bamboo", the guitar-organ interaction in several songs ? they are definitely there, and all the more intriguing because they are not immediately evident.

As previously stated, "Rabbit in the Vestibule" may need repeated listens for all those elements to be discovered and fully appreciated. In spite of its apparently 'poppy' nature, it is a multilayered effort, brimming with humour, creativity, and excellent musicianship. Open-minded listeners, and those who are constantly looking for new twists on their favourite genre, will be sure to appreciate this disc, and possibly be left wanting for more.

This young canadian band named Half past Four did an excellent job here on their first album named Rabbit in the vestibule from 2008. They gathered in this album almost all the greatest ideas must has an eclectic band from today, the result is a brilliant trip through eclectic music with a little avand gard in places and for those who are open minded and want somthing diffrent then usual prog music. The imagination of these 5 musicians is top notch, is quite rare for me to listen to such chalenging and intelligent music from newer bands, but as is with Rabbit in the vestibule everything is possible, impressive album. The musicianship is awesome, from cruchy guitar tones with a,lot of time signatures and a typical sound movements to some most amazing vocal parts I've come across lately in progressive rock, the magnificent voice of Kyree Vibrant. She has a wide registerd with a great range, from mellow to more rougher in places when pieces needs it, she make a truly solid vocal arrangements here, super on some pieces like Johnny, Southern Boogie, Biel, Bamboo or Rabbit she covers almost every zone of her voice, delivering some very catchy and intristing moments, great voice. The rest of the pieces are aswell very good, 2 instrumental tracks are here one of them hard to forget with a lot to offer - Lullaby, shows how talented and good this band is. What is realy top class here is the keyboards of Igor Kurtzman, he knows when and how to use this instrument to make some truly amazing moments here, very intristing and not very often I heared this kind of approach to keys , quite eclectic after all. So an band to watch in the future because they are amomg the best in last years, very talented with solid and intristing ideas.4- 4.5 stars, an excellent addition to my collection and to anyone who gets this album, he won't regrete it for sure. Album available at CDbaby.Recommended