CROOKED MOUTH

Scottish band from Edinburgh, set up in 2000 with guitarist Ken Campbell being its undisputed leader and main songwriter.During April of the following year recordings for the band's debut begun at Sound Cafe Studios, involving singer Kenny Haig, bassist Chris Stenhouse, keyboardist Simon Ellis and drummer Tony Hodge as regular band members, although Alison Mitchell on flute, Eilidh Swanson on backing vocals and Lynne Campbell on additional keys helped throughout.The recordings were finished in May 2003, followed by a private release of Crooked Mouth's debut, carrying the band's name as a title.

Although the band is listed as a Prog act in various sources related to Progressive/Art Rock, their debut has little to do with the movement.This is pleasant melodic and straightforward Rock music with more Indie than progressive influences and the only acts coming to mind are Hogarth-era MARILLION, concerning its poppy tunes throughout, or RIVERSEA's and COSMOGRAF's early efforts.The vibe of the album is optimistic, offering catchy and easy-listening material with decent guitar leads and solos and limited contribution by keyboards (with some Hammond organ present as well) and piano.Instrumental passages are out of the question, most of the material is vocal-based with lots of rhythmic parts and typical guitar explosions, while a couple of melancholic ballads are thrown in for good measure.Compositionally the tracks are fine and tight with good vocals, memorable moments and a fair amount of dynamics, but instrumentally the album comes as a rather flat and one-dimensional production with electric and acoustic guitars being the primary driving forces from the first to the last minute.The long ''Acrobat'' seems the be the most interesting piece, despite being also the calmest one.Very nice, emotional vocals, folk-tinged flutes around and orchestral keyboards result a quite nice long composition, that eventually shows some potential.

''Crooked Mouth'' is not really representitive of the band's talent.If you enjoy catchy Rock music, torn between emotion and music passion, this should offer some nice spins.But the lack of intricate moves and the poppy flavors around are making this work a forbidden listening for fans of demanding Progressive Rock...2.5 stars.