THE MIRROR EFFECT

ARTNAT is a Portuguese group founded by two of the members of TANTRA living musically from 1977 to 2005, known as distilling complex symphonic notes ranging from prog rock to jazz rock and dinosaur sounds namely YES, CAMEL, ELP and especially KING CRIMSON for the typical sound of the guitar. A jazzy sound apart I said with detours to the MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA too, with various keyboards associated with a singular and recognizable guitar. ARTNAT by this inverted word, like a mirror effect, tries to make its music evolve by giving it a convoluted modern range; Manuel and Gui want to amplify the symphonic style and the progressive quality with colorful titles often bordering on the experimental, a new take off?

"Riding the Edge of Darkness" frank attack with the voice of Sara on a variation à la Kate BUSH or that of Emilia from QUIDAM, fat, psychedelic, soaring synths, a frightening male voice, Manuel's tortured guitar for a dark crimsonian avant-garde atmosphere, mouthing of the ARTNAT-TANTRA sound. "Eternal Dance of Love" with a fretless bass and strange synths, spleen atmosphere, the jazzy side is felt, then the recognizable melodic spleen guitar, beautiful as a princess, not very objective that but when it's beautiful you get lost; a gentle crescendo with the magnified voice which pushes the tone even more; back to the final bass. "Return to OM" sub-divided into "Nirvana" and "The Warrior" for the epic piece; complex music, tantric in fact if you have already listened to TANTRA; barjot composition, synthetic jazz-rock with brass, Yessian variation with these twirling synths, voice of the diva, all this reminiscent of DISTRICT 97 for the jazzy side and the high voice, riff à la 'You Really Got Me' then intimate break where HOWE appears, a voice in Portuguese which integrates, giving a singular character; drum rumble, frippian guitar and intimate variation bordering on jam and its fruity, airy spleen guitar. "From Chaos to Beauty" and a beautiful orchestral, a little messy then which arises with incisive, whirling instruments, showing dexterity more than melody, limit tribal jam with hints of GENESIS at times and of new-wave by the way, from ELP too.

"A View from Above" and a catch-all title, jazzy, rock, crossover, alternative, Latin, Génésisien, Manuel's guitar divinely responding to the synths of Guilherme and André. The tune is pretty hard to pin down with these solos forays and vocal touches; complex, adventurous. "Cosmic Machinery" for an instrumental fireworks display of dithyrambic synths, there is creativity at the MINIMUM VITAL or at VANGELIS at times, at the MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA, a little on the ELP and an oriental guitar, a monument that you have to listen again, colorful, diverse and creative. "The Mirror Effect" for the return of Sara and Manuel's tormented Frippian guitar; spatial derivation by the synths amplified by the percussions of João, a jewel still simple at the beginning, whose musical convolutions surprise. "Celebration" with tribal percussions and choirs; it starts off with a tune reminiscent of the first Kate BUSH when she was trying out different vocalizations; the parts of keyboards on VANGELIS, not OLDFIELD, in short it deposits. "The Dramatic Beauty of Life" with the wolf and the rain no, this is not a fable of the FOUNTAIN; what is the child doing? Good frank jazzy touch with these warm synths, Paulo's bass maintaining the rhythm; synths there, voice taken like an instrument here, jam or improvisation requiring several plays and a musical opening, a dramatic moment of great beauty, good bon Sonner les Matins '! And we come to "The Complex Art of Creation" continuing on this jazzy breach at the start, then an hymn tune to VANGELIS and GENESIS, then downright on YES, a borderline Kobai voice for a progressive search improvised from afar; synths and guitar sending the notes back to each other as on a palm game, Manuel giving a final melodic touch rounding the basic unstructured tune a little. Symphonic "finale" with piano, voice from up there, pompous air which also reveals all the diversity of the musicians.

ARTNAT brings out this mirror effect to open our slightly clogged musical ears; progressive, complex art music flirting with improvisation, esotericism; stimulating, bouncy music, tortuous breaks; an avant-garde voice in aerial use, crystalline and on lamentation, the keyboards magnifying the mysterious atmosphere. A sophisticated sound that may be off-putting at first, too conditioned to sound simple to the ear; a beautiful sound that soothes, captivates, makes you meditate over listening.