TRYING TO KISS THE SUN

Yeah! This album is probably the best answer for the above question. All compositions in this album are relatively simple and light. For sure this is not a typical example of prog in the seventies, all tracks are easy to digest and accessible to most people. It does not mean that the music is far from any influence. I think, RPWL (Risettion Postl Wallner Lung ) music has been heavily influenced by The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree. Or simply put, it has its roots in Pink Floyd sound as Porcupine Tree is influenced by Pink Floyd. In precise terms, RPWL has taken Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree approach in putting sound as key element in their composition. To qualify this, an excellent sonic production of the album is deemed required and the band has successfully fulfilled this requirement in an excellent way. The other element of Floyd's music that RPWL has adopted is the psychedelic nature of its composition. I can smell this nuance from the beginning track until the concluding one - all of them have a psychedelic nuance. Having this in mind, this album would - I think - favor Radiohead or Cold Play fans.

The only thing that RPWL has not taken into consideration when adopting Pink Floyd music is the Gilmourish style in guitar playing.There are some similarities in some tracks but it's not a lot. Probably, if the band is willing to do so in the future release, they should hire Arena's guitarist John Mitchell that has a great talent in emulating Gilmour style especially in the ARENA's groundbreaking album "The Visitor". It's gonna be great, I think. For the time being, let's just focus on what we have at hands now.

This second album represents a major leap from their weak debut album "God Has Failed". (Well, it's not a wise album title at all especially for those who believe God, including me, in which they will NEVER have any thought at all of blaming God. But it's not for this ridiculous album title that has made me say that the debut was weak; you can read my comments about the debut album in this site as well). I forced myself to enjoy this album through a loan from my prog mate's CD. To my surprise, the band has improved a lot.

The album opener titled the same with album title Trying To Kiss The Sun starts with an eastern music percussions that reminds me to Indian music (it's something that has been used widely by many bands before, including the Beatles, Kula Shaker). The music flows in upbeat tempo with ambient mood with some flavor of woodwinds / bamboo instruments that help color the music. It continues with 2. Waiting For a Smile with simple and nice guitar fills that accompany the Floydian voice line in mellow tempo, low register notes with some repeated echoes at the end of lyrical verse. The music flows nicely with minimum variations between low and high points. The keyboard solo during interlude reminds me to Genesis music; performed in a very slow tempo augmented with an excellent howling guitar. This part is best listened to with a decent hi-fi system in high volume of power amplifier. It does have an excellent sonic quality and beautiful sound! The simple guitar fills played in alternate with long sustain keyboard sound has enriched the textures of the song.

The third track I Don´t Know What it´s Like starts off with an exploration of sitar work followed with a voce line in psychedelic style. It reminds me to The Beatles music combined with Pink Floyd early albums. Simple inclusion of guitar and sitar sounds has accentuated the richness of the song's arrangements.

Sugar For the Ape begins with a simple music loop followed with an excellent distant vocal singing style with some augmentation of lead guitar that produces a classic rock guitar riffs. Some rhythm section of this song at the beginning reminds me to Porcupine Tree's Four Chords That Have Made a Million from the Light Bulb Sun album. I hope this was accidental in nature. The musical forms suddenly change to other style when the lyrical part says "Uh .. send me an angel .." - it's a great change. This is probably the track where the guitar solo demonstrates a similar style of Gilmour.

Side By Side is I think too long in duration, especially at the intro part as it has a boring melody that's been repeated. However, this track offers an excellent sound during interlude where a simple acoustic guitar fills are augmented by percussion, bird sounds as well as keyboard effects. There is also nice female chanting during this part. It's time to turn your power amps volume high and you can fly with this kind of music.

The sixth track You begins with a low register notes vocal line accompanied with a simple guitar fills and inventive bass pattern. The music turns in crescendo with some guitar work and brings the vocal into a higher register note. The keyboard solo in alternate with guitar solo at the end of the track are stunning.

Tell Me Why reminds me to the nuance of Pink Floyd's Obscured By Clouds album; the song flows gradually from quiet opening into high register notes at the end of the track. It continues in similar vein to Believe Me which has a simple sitar solo in the middle of the track.. I start to get bored with the music when I reach this 8th track as I don's see any major leap in terms of styles or variations. The next track Sunday Morning still have similar style and very little variations of high and low points.

The concluding track Home Again is the longest track on this album, it consumes 8:52 minutes duration. It starts off with a sound exploration followed with a music in ambient sound that accompany a voice line. The long sustain guitar solo performed in between lyrical verses has made this track enjoyable. It's like Gilmour in Pink Floyd but it's performed softer. This track is well positioned to end the album. An excellent track.

Overall, it's a good album to enjoy even though, I think, it might not favor a wider audience of prog lovers. For me personally, I enjoy this album very much especially when I want to play the music loud at home or in a car. The "sound" is really excellent. The only challenge posed on me is the fact that I cannot bear to enjoy the music in its entirety as I get bored when it reaches track 7 or 8. Probably, the band should make an LP size music (45 minuter) to prevent listeners from getting bored. I think this album deserves three stars with a possibility to grow into four stars domain in the future. But I think it's too naïve to give it a four stars right now. Keep on proGGin' ..!!!

Yours progressively,

GW

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