CLOSE TO VAPOUR

This is the fourth album from the Dutch group, where core members Leo Koperdraat and Frank L Urbaniak are joined once again by Brett Kull (of Echolyn, and producer for label-mates Valdez) and founder member Ed van Haagen guesting. Now, I haven't heard anything since the debut, and I wasn't incredibly impressed by that but I am always willing to give a band a fresh go, and I am incredibly glad that I did with this one. 'Close To Vapour' is quite a pastoral album in many ways, delicate like a summer breeze, and when I play this I envisage a meadow of grass and wild flowers, with trees on the boundary. I can't explain it, but for some reason that vision comes through incredibly clearly whenever I play this.

If an album ever deserves the title "English" then it is this, with acoustic guitars, flute, and a feeling that the guys have been listening way too much to albums by The Kinks. Is it a late Sixties release, or from the early Seventies? To my ears there is just enough psych and early Floyd influences to point to the former, so don't believe it when I say that it was actually released in February 2018 as that makes no sense whatsoever. There is one glorious poppy number after another, with just one song stretching over seven minutes in length, and I can see why Brett has allowed himself to be brought into the fold as one can also hear similarities with the mighty Echolyn. This is fresh, fun, and absolute delight. When I was (much) younger there was a record label called Music For Pleasure, and that is a title that fits this album just perfectly.