I AM A STRANGER IN THE EARTH

A mostly instrumental affair, with some scattered female vocals bearing no lyrics (but contributing decisively to create harmonic atmosphere), this album seems to lean on titles and cover art to project a sort of "narrative program": we see the stranger coming through a standard cliché "wormhole gate" to our contemporary urban world, and taking it from there, the track titles plot step by step his journey of exploration.

But the actual meat is not so much in the story itself, as in the music setting the scenery. There you have nice experimental interaction between keyboards and guitars, composing a richly embroidered tapestry, which is, for the most part, very calm paced and transparent in harmony (yet abundant in tasty dissonance). There is also a generous portion of classical tinges thrown in, for which every ear should be grateful (as I think they are indeed), and that brings a healthy alternation with the more atonal experimentation. The occasional intervention of the drums seems a bit erratic in those experimental sections (to my ears at least), but getting assurance in pace and timing for the more traditional stuff.

Summing up: a good new experience for me, with a decisive virtue: even sounding so classic in terms of the vintage sound of guitars and keyboards (plus clarinet and violin, of course), this record never sounds dated or indebted with the ubiquitous influences so common in the whole prog genre. Good, but, bringing some fresh air, more than good.