Oneira (The Oneira) - New prog from Italy

Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic

Released on Musea Records on 13th Sept 2011 (http://www.musearecords.com/ext_re_new_releaseselect.php?np=37732) was the album 'Natural prestige' by a band I had never come across called 'Oneira' (or 'The Oneira' as it is sometimes called). This is the 2011 debut by a new very melodic Italian prog band, with four instrumentals 
and six tracks sung in English. This isn’t a Rock Progressivo Italiano album, but 
rather an English style one similar to IQ, Marillion, and perhaps in places Rush. 
There are still some Italian flavours though, particularly when acoustic guitar is 
used. The keyboardist Giampaolo Begnoni says his passion for rock began by listening to Genesis, 
Pink Floyd, and Yes, and those influences are certainly here, but the music feels more 
neo-prog to me, and the Rush energy is obvious when present. In part, Natural 
Prestige is a suggestion of what Rush might sound like with a real, 
full-time keyboardist, but there is also Oneira’s other side, a more delicate, 
layered, Genesis-oriented sound that has little to do with Rush. A 1 minute 45 second sample of the fifth track "Ichochromata" is available on the band's website: http://www.oneira.org/1. Intro (2:42)
2. Secret Garden (5:27)
3. Moon In The Daylight (4:57)
4. Into The Unknown (6:31)
5. Ichochromata (5:45)
6. Panorama (3:04)
7. Oneira (3:53)
8. Handmade (4:57)
9. Running Away (5:39)
10. Sea Dreams (6:06)

Total Time 49:01

Filippos Gougoumis - Guitar, Bass
Giampaolo Begnoni - Keyboards
Erik Spedicato - Drums

Samples in general of this one are pretty sparse at the moment, only the short intro track is available on YouTube:

You can get the album very reasonably in either FLAC or OGG format (and listen to short samples) at Mindawn.com: 
https://www.mindawn.com/albums/8278?PHPSESSID=54df39bab22f7191d38d4a5b12eac5, but the best place at the moment to get a feel of the album is probably this podcast, where the show is opened by tracks 2, 10, & 6 from the "Natural Prestige" album: http://www.procapltee.com/images/IPRS_89.mp3 (Note: it will only be available to listen to or download for a few weeks.)

The band's facebook page is here: http://it-it.facebook.com/pages/THE-ONEIRA/188364597884362, but no samples seem to be present, I'm afraid.

Searching the forums for Oneira revealed this post: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=79252&KW=oneira&PID=4292756#4292756 by toroddfuglesteg, which suggests that the band may already be under evaluation by the symphonic team, but that was nearly 6 weeks ago now, and I would personally have placed them in neo or crossover in any case. There is no entry for the band in progfreak.com, but I understand that symphonic no longer use this facility to track their evaluations. 

Whatever the case may be, this is a fine album by a very promising new band, so....bump!

Edit: Anyone reading this earlier in the day and seeing the album's release date entered by me in the first line as '13th Sept 2009' can be reassured that they weren't in a time warp...It's now been corrected! 

Edited by yam yam - November 04 2011 at 18:40

Author	Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic
yam yam Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Crossover Team Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Offline Points: 7063	Topic: Oneira (The Oneira) - New prog from Italy Posted: November 04 2011 at 09:51
	Released on Musea Records on 13th Sept 2011 (http://www.musearecords.com/ext_re_new_releaseselect.php?np=37732) was the album 'Natural prestige' by a band I had never come across called 'Oneira' (or 'The Oneira' as it is sometimes called). This is the 2011 debut by a new very melodic Italian prog band, with four instrumentals and six tracks sung in English. This isn’t a Rock Progressivo Italiano album, but rather an English style one similar to IQ, Marillion, and perhaps in places Rush. There are still some Italian flavours though, particularly when acoustic guitar is used. The keyboardist Giampaolo Begnoni says his passion for rock began by listening to Genesis, Pink Floyd, and Yes, and those influences are certainly here, but the music feels more neo-prog to me, and the Rush energy is obvious when present. In part, Natural Prestige is a suggestion of what Rush might sound like with a real, full-time keyboardist, but there is also Oneira’s other side, a more delicate, layered, Genesis-oriented sound that has little to do with Rush. A 1 minute 45 second sample of the fifth track "Ichochromata" is available on the band's website: http://www.oneira.org/ 1. Intro (2:42) 2. Secret Garden (5:27) 3. Moon In The Daylight (4:57) 4. Into The Unknown (6:31) 5. Ichochromata (5:45) 6. Panorama (3:04) 7. Oneira (3:53) 8. Handmade (4:57) 9. Running Away (5:39) 10. Sea Dreams (6:06) Total Time 49:01 Filippos Gougoumis - Guitar, Bass Giampaolo Begnoni - Keyboards Erik Spedicato - Drums Samples in general of this one are pretty sparse at the moment, only the short intro track is available on YouTube: You can get the album very reasonably in either FLAC or OGG format (and listen to short samples) at Mindawn.com: https://www.mindawn.com/albums/8278?PHPSESSID=54df39bab22f7191d38d4a5b12eac5, but the best place at the moment to get a feel of the album is probably this podcast, where the show is opened by tracks 2, 10, & 6 from the "Natural Prestige" album: http://www.procapltee.com/images/IPRS_89.mp3 (Note: it will only be available to listen to or download for a few weeks.) The band's facebook page is here: http://it-it.facebook.com/pages/THE-ONEIRA/188364597884362, but no samples seem to be present, I'm afraid. Searching the forums for Oneira revealed this post: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=79252&KW=oneira&PID=4292756#4292756 by toroddfuglesteg, which suggests that the band may already be under evaluation by the symphonic team, but that was nearly 6 weeks ago now, and I would personally have placed them in neo or crossover in any case. There is no entry for the band in progfreak.com, but I understand that symphonic no longer use this facility to track their evaluations. Whatever the case may be, this is a fine album by a very promising new band, so....bump! Edit: Anyone reading this earlier in the day and seeing the album's release date entered by me in the first line as '13th Sept 2009' can be reassured that they weren't in a time warp...It's now been corrected! Edited by yam yam - November 04 2011 at 18:40

harmonium.ro Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin Joined: August 18 2008 Location: Anna Calvi Status: Offline Points: 22989	Posted: November 04 2011 at 12:11
	Listening to the podcast now, good stuff. I agree about Neo, I'll notify the team. The Symph Team didn't accept the band and voted "move" to another category.