VISIONS

Damn awesome music!!!! This is the first impression I had listening to the second and new album by the Cornish people of THE EMERALD DAWN. A short disc, just forty-five minutes but what a disc once again, one would be tempted to say! Originally from Edinburgh, still Scottish? Originally but now based in the South West of England, the founding duo Tree STEWART (real name Katrina Jane) and Alan (Ally) CARTER send us a hell of a highly progressive and not really neo in the case now, in my opinion, the inspiration would be more of a psyche/space/prog obedience, a much less common and popular sub-genre and therefore more easily identifiable.​

The start of "Black Music" is purely symphonic in the great tradition of Arthurian legends even if this title is not one, with the round bass (fretless) of Jayjay QUICK and especially the brilliance of the tenor saxophone of Ally CARTER which gives THE EMERALD DAWN the opportunity to distinguish itself from the rest of our usual progressive music, so it's off for a superb twenty-minute journey, out of fashion, out of time or a time suspended above the table round; I will add that I am not a fan of brass but for THE EMERALD DAWN, I make an exception because their music is frankly original. A strong sharp for the vocals which is simply excellent, hushed, delicate, although the album is not overly sung; these first twenty minutes are therefore to be listened to and re-listened to without moderation, it is music filled with magic and lyrical brilliance, we almost come to regret that this piece only tickles our brains during this lapse of time!!!​

The other three pieces (seven, eight and nine minutes) are in the same melodic vein, a little more muscular and sung in two voices for "A Vision Left Unseen" (a slightly gothic male voice) always with a devastating saxophone which takes the track down original musical paths and where Tree STEWART's keyboard talent explodes with every note, the second half of this piece is purely sumptuous even if it ends a little too abruptly... the prog fan is never satisfied !!!​

The remarkable twelve-string acoustic guitar scores of "Waves" can only comfort us in our analysis of this timeless music (I know that this word is often used including by yours truly) but difficult to do otherwise here, Tree STEWART adding to it purely evanescent vocals, a vocal emanation reminiscent of the HASLAM queen of the first RENAISSANCE, airy lines that escape vaporously into the air of the times, it's quite simply B.E.A.U!​

The concluding piece "Stranger in a Strange Land" is the only instrumental on THE EMERALD DAWN disc with a beautiful passage where Tree STEWART's flute appears (around the fifth minute) before Ally CARTER's six strings intensely ignite the end of the piece is heavy, energetic melodic, highly qualitative, very good in short.​

THE EMERALD DAWN, a great discovery that was suggested to me by Ally CARTER himself, after he had read the COMEDY OF ERRORS review!!!​

2017: SCOTLAND new cradle of progressive as far as I'm concerned...