THE LAST OF THE LIBERTINE

My decision to buy this album was based on my first listening to the samples on the web, that sound beautiful, with mysterious and peculiar melodies, and high quality of performance, sound and production. Later on I've heard some more tracks that Richard Wileman, the driving force behind Karda Estra, generously spread around the internet, and I've realized that this kind of music fit less for my taste than I thought before. Nevertheless I bought one Karda Estra album. I chose 'The last of the libertine' album, on the basis of the samples on MySpace that sounds a little bit more rhythmic than other KE albums samples.

And the conclusions? In general it's a pleasant listening, in a certain sorts of moods. Do not expect for great tempests, what you got here is eight melodic and nice tracks, a little bit more sophisticated than the average ones in this kind of music, heavily influenced by English folk. Anthony Philips comes to mind here. Sometimes the music is very sweet, almost like lift music (but without being too cliché). And if I asked to relate to genres classification, well, I didn't manage to find any symphonic prog here. Overall, sometimes the music is good, sometimes a little bit boring.

The performance is excellent, mainly the oboe and cor anglais, both played by Caron Hansford, and the trumpet from Louise Hirst, (soft sounds that reminds me of Herb Alpert). Also I enjoyed from the classical guitar from Richard himself. It's evident that he rules the instrument and the techniques, and provides a very good sound out of the guitar. The production as I mentioned before is superb, crystal clear.

The tracks I like the most are tracks 2 and 6, 'Life Drawing', and the title track, 'The Last of the Libertine', respectively. Both are more rhythmic than most of the album. 'Life Drawing' got beat strumming on the guitar, and the title track features nice drums. (OK, programmed, so what). Another track I like is track 3, 'Atom of Warmth', with its heavenly, lovely melody.

In a nutshell, this is a good album, but far from being an essential one. It suits for all who need right now something pastoral and calm, in a better quality from the average standard of this kind of music.