FOUR EYES IN THE SILENCE

From the very first moment this album (2010) is layered with Floydian atmospheres (1967-1972 era). But the tasteful and alternating vintage keyboard sound by progrock veteran Beppe Crovella adds a captivating extra dimension to the music. A very special experience is to hear the omnipresent Mellotron in this early Floyd inspired sound, because Rick Wright hardly used the unsurpassed Mellotron (I only know Julia's Dream with the Mellotron flute section). The vocals in the vein of Roger Waters and the Gilmourian guitar runs (Meddle era) also add that distinctive early Floyd climate. A few examples.

Mellotron flute intro and in the end majestic Mellotron choir eruptions in If You Walk With Me.

Mellotron flutes and violins in I'm In Love.

And again majestic Mellotron choirs (in combination with the Hammond organ) in Take My Time.

A very special feature in Steeo their music is the creating of pleasant atmospheres, blended with interesting musical ideas, like the accordeon, mouth organ and a wah-wah drenched guitar solo in If You Walk With Me. And final part with fuzz guitar in In The Silence and wonderful psychedelic atmospheres in Meaningless and the final track Macro.

Also nice to listen to is the blend of Sixties rock, pop and psychedelia (evoking the Syd Barrett era) in the songs Singin' Songs I Can Do Anything and Take The Time.

Although it's more 'regression' than 'progressive', I like this debut album by Italian Steeo very much. Unfortunately it turned out that Steeo was another promising one-shot-band from Italy.

My rating: 3,5 star.