...AS IT WERE. HERE AND THERE

Came across the band/album when they were reviewed and on the front page of Progarchives and having like the couple of tracks available bought the album through the bands website and I'm very pleased I did.

As the other reviewers have noted they're is nothing startlingly new to be found here but what you quickly realise is this is music written and played by people who believe and love what they are doing and they deliver very well constructed and engaging songs with flare and passion. All the players seem, to my ears, to be very good but Charlotta Kerbs vocals are outstanding.

To label the predominant style as 70s prog would be broadly accurate but there are funky grooves, countryish slid guitars and bluesy hammond breaks as well as later influences that add textures to the music that fall outside that definition. Guitar and organ are the predominant instruments but piano, synths and violin add to the mix. Charlottas amazing voice allows her to vary her style with apparent ease, she goes from a dreamy English Folk Rock style on Parts to an incredible Gillianesque powerhouse performance on the mostly spoken Someone and Love.

The hippied up CND symbols on the back cover give a clue to the lyrics in store which some may find naive but I find refreshingly lacking in cynicism although Someone and Love and Markens grode both have a darker vibe that the other tracks. The one criticism is a few pronunciation issues, particularly on Caught in a dream, but these barely detract although it does highlight the issue of bands such as Porcelain feeling the need, or wanting, to sing in English. The last track, Vinden, is in Swedish (the band are from Finland but come from a Swedish speaking minority - thanks Niklas;) and to me as an English speaker it has a rich, mysterious, ethereal quality that, I'm not saying the other track lack but they perhaps have to strive for, while this song conjures these feelings with ease.

Anyway, that is a minor point which I wouldn't want to take away from the impression of a very enjoyable and satisfying debut which hints at more great things to come.