LOVE HATE ROUND TRIP

After a first album in 2003, critically well respected and appreciated, and responding to incongruent expectations of those who dreamed of hearing VDGG interpreted by a group from the Canterbury scene, Areknames gave us Love Hate Round Trip, two-headed, so obviously between the monstrous and the all too human. On the cover of the booklet, a picture of a suburban street; probably from a Anglo-Saxon town. Close-up a flight of four steps of a gray-brown staircase, bordered by a same color stone wall, leading, as a line of flight, to a funeral store background. The letters of the sign of the shop appear upside. Gillman Funeral Service. In the foreground, written on the wall with white paint, the album title: Love Hate Round Trip, a real announcement of what it contains. The reality is a yo-yo, the constant change alone. From love to hate, dark to light, a permanent round trip. "The vortex of passion / Makes us alive and dead / At the Saami time". Inside the booklet there is the same aesthetic state of mind. The text of each song is illustrated by a picture or a dark and mystical painting, the image of this painting by Balthus or Bosch that can not leave us indifferent. A photo of the group in silhouette in the evening light closes the book. We do not even distinguish the faces. This mysterious shot overcomes the traditional list of acknowledgments where one crosses a multitude of names, some known and famous, whose presence here seems logical (Colosseum, Frost, Man, Wicked Mind of course), or seems surprising (Agitation Free, Wishbone Ash, Chocolate Watch Band, Mahavishnu Orchestra). The booklet also tells us that we will hear trumpet on several occasions. Stefano Colombi is this time sought full- time guitarthrough beautifully subtle arrangements, very technical and inventive soli. Then it will be found that the main difference with the previous album is the most important place given to this instrument even if keyboard parts are important (except for the melloton who is more discreet). Despite these changes, these innovations, music Areknames may seem familiar (especially for fans of VDGG). First we think to know it by heart, but that's not counting on its mutability, the way to change according to the strength and condition of our soul. Depending on the angle of approach (by car, concert, with friends or alone with our pain), its appearance is changed by what happens to us.