MAGIC WORD

I was asked to review this CD by this band from Voronezh, Russia. I really don´t know why, since their style of RIO/Avant Prog is not my cup of tea. But I was intrigued enough to listen to it. And I was nicely surprised, The line up is definitely non rock and unusual: piano, clarinet and drums. There is an acoustic bass on several songs but it went uncredited. A few synthesizer lines are also played here and there, but basically this trio is the format throughout the whole CD. And the music is quite fascinating too: Yaroslav Borisov is a terrific pianist and the songs, although often dissonant and sometimes even chaotic, carry a discernible melody most of the time, making the experience of listening the CD much more enjoyable than most artists of the genre, at least to my ears. In fact, I found myself charmed by the whole experience of hearing this CD.

There are the obvious jazz, classical music, avant guard and free jazz influences. But still, as far as I can tell, they are very original, with a unique approach to the music. The performances are spotless, the production is very good and the all the tracks are very strong and captivating. Every tune is quite a trip! Some are better than others, of course, but none is bad or even weak. It´s an all instrumental CD and I´m very happy to be presented to this highly skilled and talent combo.

If you like music that that is original, exciting and unusual (without being too zany or complicated for complications sake), then A Magic Word is for you! Truly progressive music that defies categorization.

Rating: 4.5 stars.

Highly recommended for anyone with an open mind (and ears).