THE CHANDRASEKHAR LIMIT

This is a really fine album by a band originating from Ticino in the Italian speaking region of Switzerland. This is the bands first album for seven years, since 2006's "Surrender". They are a group of experienced musicians including former Clepsydra bassist Andy Thommen and Keyboard whiz Ivo Bernasconi. The albums title refers to an astronomical term associated with white dwarf stars, there is also a track called "Pulsar" so the band seem to have a bit of an fascination with astronomy. The music is thoughtful and clever with catchy riffs and excellent musicianship. The album starts with "Awaken" which after 15 seconds of vocals over acoustic guitar launches into a memorable and soaring guitar and keyboard riff which sets the tone for the whole album, there is a nice laid back guitar break in the middle of this 12 minute song which is complemented by the excellent bass work of Thommen. "Cub Lady" at just under three minutes is a very nice short ballad featuring vocals and acoustic guitar. The strangely titled PigReco starts with a simple but captivating electric piano melody before moving into progressive territory with very nice guitar behind the vocalist and some saxophone thrown in for good measure. The 17 minute "Matrimandir" brings in a taste of the Indian sub-continent with Sanskrit lyrics and Indian sounding instrumentation, however the song has jazz interludes within a song which I presume is about the temple in the Indian town of Auroville. "Pulsar" is an instrumental which starts simply with a melody on bass and piano before developing into something quite stylish. The 24 minute final track "The Daydream Suite" gives the band chance to explore the full spectrum and show off their talents in a song which seems to be about the repetition and recall of dreams as vocalist Lorenzo Sonognini laments "I wanna play it back, I wanna live that dream again". An excellent album with the odd nod in style towards Genesis but really there are a number of techniques and styles involved here as well as fine instrumentation with a mention in despatches for guitarist Luigi Biamino, the vocals are pretty good too. Highly recommended.