MARKS

Very interesting debut album by Dutch band Alquin. On "Marks" they sound like a mix of fellow Dutch band Finch with Caravan, the latter because of the gentle style of the compositions and the use of saxes and flutes.

The highlight is the mini-suite "Soft Royce/Mr. Barnum Jr's Magnificent and Fabulous City" where you can hear passages that wouldn't have been out of place on Caravan's finest records. The album opener "Oriental Journey" is also very Caravan-like. The album ends with two nice instrumental tracks: "Marc's Occasional Showers" and the sax/violin driven "Catherine's Wig".

All in all a very satisfying debut album of a band that keeps recording and touring today.