LESS IS MORE

i am probably still enthused by the influence of last friday's L=M show where i finally managed to pick up this platter and had the beauty of it unfolding before my very eyes and ears as the evening proceeded. i then basically locked myself away for the weekend with it and though hard about what to make of it all. the conclusion must be that anything below **** would be hugely inappropriate.

once more MARiLLiON have delivered the goods. as an album and a rather quick fire project for them this had surprised me but seeing how this still extraordinary british band had increased its musical vocabulary during the last decade or so i vaguely knew that they could pull it off without making it sound trite and campfireish. it's certainly not as misleading and unrecognizable as members of the band have pointed out previously but they are trying out various influences and styles that suit the songs very well and shine an entirely new and surprising light on them. granted, it's very mellow and thus suits me just fine at this time of year.

it's probably pointless to review each track but i'll just single out last year's "wrapped up in time" (off "happiness is the road"), which is performed in a gorgeous torch song (no pun!) arrangement and the ambient spaciness of "out of this world" has been tranformed surpisingly well into a sparse acoustic setting. they certainly tackled a lot of "sleeper" album tracks that initially did not raise too many eyebrows. i could imagine this album also serving as some sort of re-evaluating process of older material. in fact, i feel a certain urge to give 1999s ".com" another spin now!

kudos also for the wide scope of instruments used ? autoharps, dulcimers, glockenspiels, assorted percussion, a real pipe organ, you name it ... beautifully executed in masterfully subdued playing. and if steve hogarth isn't by now one of the finest and most intense and unmistakeable vocalists that the UK had produced in recent times i'll eat his pink telecaster!

a brave project with some brave music by a brave band. no pun at all again!

so ? why "only" ****? because i'd still like to cast my vote for another regular and fully amplified studio album soon!

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