TRILI PT. 1

The words “jam band” often conjure up an image, something that’s fun for the musician, but maybe not so much for the listener. Trili believe that they have figured a way out of that one; make a band that jams ambient mood music. “Now wait a second,” you say, “how the hell does THAT work?” Don’t worry, Trili is also a hard rock band. Sounds confusing doesn’t it?

Fortunately, it also sounds good. The eponymous debut opens with “Gabitronix Pt. 1,” which transforms from a host of moody guitar noises and building bass and drums into a Larks Tongues in Aspic style metal number with clever, and memorable, riffage. A very promising start, and the best number on the album.

“Depredador Pt. 1” is a more straightforward number that borders on the metallic, and provides adequate headbanging material. Right up until the end, when it fades into ambient noise, and morphs into “Depredador Pt. 2,” which is more Porcupine Tree style metal, but with jam band twists and builds that makes it deeper, and therefore, more interesting.

“Dirt” is the first track to have vocals, which is an interesting change. At heart, it’s a power ballad, and a very pleasant one at that. “Lliijaa” pulls us back into the professional jam band theatrics, tossing out bluesy jamming, art metal, psychedelic jazz, and...and do I detect surf rock? Yes, I do believe I do. Nice.

“SaKlaKK” finishes the album off in a big way (I mean, c’mon dude! Twenty minutes). It might be a bit much over all, but it’s made out of tasty enough stuff. It covers a lot of ground, starting with moody Latin themes, then transferring them to a moody hard rock backing, dissolving into ambient, and closing it off with moody keyboard soloing that reflects Ray Manzarek’s jazzy electric piano ala “Riders on the Storm.” As I said, a bit much, but if you can stand it, real fun.

Which is the best way to describe the album as a whole. It’s solid, and good listening, but I can’t shake the feeling that’s something missing...the ballads (er, ballad) could be more emotionally rewarding, the riffs could be a bit more memorable...but why concentrate on what’s not there?

What IS there is good, solid construction on just about every song. I’m serious when I say this, the construction of the record is just about perfect. These folks know their way around a studio, every instrument is in its right place. The rhythm is loose, but not sloppy, the leads are layered so that they never overpower anything. The riffs might not be particularly innovative, but they’re solid, and clearly this is real jamming, not just pointless improvisation.

This album shows has no lack of confidence whatsoever. It just needs a tiny push in the right direction, something to make it a little more involving for the listener, and it would be the perfect synthesis of hard rock jamming and ambient mood music. Surely this is not a radically new concept; one could argue that Trili is picking up where bands like Can and Amon Duul II left off. Maybe it lacks a tad of the ingenuity, but it has all of the professionalism, and anyone who wants something moody, in a background kinda way, but doesn’t want some sissy Brian Eno on their playlist, Trili Pt. 1 is an album they need to check out.

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