CIRKUS

I was working at something or other on my computer ? I forget what but it was of sufficient interest to occupy most of my mind. But as I often like to have music playing in the background while working I decided to put on 'Cirkus' by Sinkadus. After what seemed only a few minutes I realised that the music had come to an end and that I had barely noticed any of it. Well, I thought, the music was obviously not that compelling. Surely, I would have paid more attention to it had it been of any quality. Yet, later and with nothing else to do I listened once again, this time with headphones, to the album fully expecting to soon grow bored with it and put on something else. But this time I was giving the music my full attention and very quickly began to appreciate its full worth. This, I recognised, was music of considerable sophistication and subtlety, a dynamic music offering beautiful melodies and rich harmonies to support a number of developing themes. It is, moreover, a music that avoids all clichés: whenever I expected particular a passage to move in a familiar direction or to involve a well- worn chord shift the music developed into something completely fresh and surprising. Yet ? and this was confirmed by repeat listening ? these developments contributed to the music's power and beauty. I had re-learnt a lesson, one that any regular listener to Progressive Rock will surely know, that this style of music demands the listener's complete attention and that its true value will never become apparent if it only serves as background ambience. My initial impression was simply wrong: I should really have known better.