THE LIGHTS OF A DISTANT BAY

Kamil Konieczniaka is a young multi-instrumentalist who comes from the city of Klucze near Krakow.MOONRISE is his solo project,where he only recruited Lukasz Gall on vocals.Guitars,bass,drums and keys are all played by Konieczniaka himself.His first output entitled ''The Lights of a Distant Bay'' was released in 2008 on Lynx Music.

STYLE: As many solo albums by multi-instrumentalists,this is generally a quite laid-back album full of easy-listening tunes and a good balance betewen instruments.I would call this particular style ''melodic soft Progressive Rock'',where atmosphere and melody come first,over any kind of complexity.Without being a virtuoso,Kamil succeds to perform well in a series of well-crafted compositions with deep atmospheric keys,fine rhythmic parts,some decent electric solos,while the bass/drums work remains rather unnoticed.The album contains extended instrumental parts of soft musicianship and singer Lukasz Gall seems the appropriate missing piece in the puzzle with his non-accented expressive voice.

INFLUENCES/SOUNDS LIKE: Kamil seems to have been influenced a lot by the local Polish prog scene,his work reminds me a lot of SATELLITE.Parts of the album have a new age OLDFIELD-ian touch,solos are in the vein of PINK FLOYD,where at times early MARILLION come also to mind.The heavier guitar parts sometimes evoke ARENA.

PLUS: Very balanced album with hardly any boring moments.Despite its calm atmosphere,the album contains many changing tempos and alternating atmospheres.Nice guitar work by Kamil in places and great vocal work by Lukasz Gall.

MINUS: No obvious weak points,but this is unfortunately very safe music with no risks at all and propably it won't satisfy a more adventurous listener.An evident lack of originality as well.

WILL APPEAL TO: ...those after modern Polish prog,Neo Progressive and anyone,who prefers his music with heavy atmospheric and melodic doses.

CONCLUSION: This is another one of these cases,where an album makes a really pleasant listening,but doesn't leaves any great impression at the end.Nice melodic music,but very far from a trully interesting release.3 stars.