DAYS BETWEEN STATIONS

DAYS BETWEEN STATIONS - a suitable name and label for this music. It's not unrealistic to imagine you're riding a train - for example I think of Siberia/Russia because I've been there last year - watching the endless nature, speculating about mankind's future and - for the perfect background - listening to this album which has a very nice melancholic flow. Above all the two long tracks are taking enough time to evolve and - after some rounds - really unfold their beauty. This is dreamy mellow in the whole what the band delivers with many psychedelic and ambient elements plus some nice brass contributions.

Even if the long tracks are the album's specials it's strongly recommended to hear this album in its entirety. And then at once you will hit upon one piece which differs a lot. Radio Song provokes as if it is made to a radio friendly track for leering at the charts. I don't think this was the intention of Sepand Samzadeh and his friends - but who knows? Anyway - this is something like a Kraftwerk output preparing the new wave style mixed with a portion of Robert Smith's The Cure and seems to be incoherent at a first glance. The band members know the deeper sense - for me it doesn't matter at all - it's even very interesting with excellent brass instrumentation coming up as a special change or interlude demonstrating the band's variety.

The album starts off wonderful melancholic with Requiem for the Living. A contradictory song title - an interesting pun at least. Samzadeh's parts are diverse, multilayered, and he sometimes plays his guitar with a special squeaky technique. Oscar Fuentes provides a compelling piano input which leads the song on its way meandering between the stations together with synth strings in the background serving also a classical touch. A good example for their musical sense after working together for some years. On top of it all Samzadeh's uncle is integrated with mysterious wailing vocals based on iranian traditionals I assume.

Reminiscences of Pink Floyd are coming up with Either/Or - the guitar style, but first of all the female vocals, are remembering much at 'The Great Gig in the Sky' - just a deep bow I imagine and valid of course. How To Seduce A Ghost shines as another highlight - very psychedelic once more with nice ethereal electronic goodies and magical guitar/piano parts. Divided in four parts the epic Laudanum appears as the ultimate art rock classic track later on with excellent work by bass player Vivi Rama by the way! More than twenty minutes - the wonderful grooving first half dominated by saxophone, sparkling piano and guitar, the second part provided with a more oppressive chilling dark atmosphere - soundscapes, extensive brass and acoustic guitar contributions included.

Well done - my compliments - not overproduced like some other albums of the genre. All-rounder Sepand Samzadeh has illustrated the cover art reflecting the atmospheric, gripping mood of the songs. An essential one - haunting sentimental art rock with psychedelic roots and avantgarde bordering - should be checked out - don't miss the train for the 'Days between Stations' ...

The truth is, the artists are using approach widely known as 'post rock' - quite a vague term, especially when you experience such a dissection point. However, a prog rock fan will instantly recogniz PINK FLOYD influences - circa 'Dark Side Of The Moon' which is, I am admitting it again, not my cup of tea to say the least. There are nice floydian synth solos over the melancholic atmosphere, there are also gilmourian guitars (or should I say latimerian, but that's kinda the same in this case) and after all there are female 'woh-yeah' soul vocals not unlike 'The Great Gig In The sky'. These parameters are most evident in 'Either/Or', but floyds are actually knitted through the whole texture of the album.

Those more contemplative, longer tracks are more in the post rock vein + touches of space rock, but this time less distinctively floydian - and there's a solid amount of ambiental things thrown on for a good measure.

This is not evident at first sight, I have to admit, they did that fusion properly. This is not your typical debut album, heading towards million direction and being directionless at the same time. No, it's coherent, the sound is fine, nothing to complain about. I must give thumbs up for a 'Radio Song' which is, in a way an artistic, parodizing statement and not an intention to sell out. At least that's my impression. Bouncy, catchy, with carefully chosen simple synth timbres, sort of art-electro-pop. And there's the final suite, which suits the aforementioned description of the sound picture, but emphasizes melancholy with a brass section. To picture it, try to imagine it as a 'Rock Bottom' in it's full melancholy and intimacy but crafted in the post-rock, that pretty much sums it up for me.

The rating is reflection of my taste only. If you think this might be for you, go for it and most likely you won't regret it. If however, you don't think it's your cup of tea - and you're aiming other sides of prog rock spectrum, this one won't satisfy you, but I'm quite sure it won't annoy you neither. To sum it up, it's worth checking.

Because it takes a days to get between the stations. My country isn't big (wide/long) enough to provide needed space (mighty wiki says that CZ is: "Area - comparative: slightly smaller than South Carolina; slightly larger than Scotland"), but let's take Siberia as a perfect example. Or Orient Express (also days to get anywhere). And I suppose that USA trains (or even Canada ones) and railways goes on a long journeys too.

Sometimes like typical post-rock band from next door, sometimes like mutated Porcupine Tree (that's what I call eclectic sound). And cover art doesn't fail too (it's innovative, original, mysterious and nice, for example what do you imagine when looking at it ? I think about these "history monks" from Discworld). This is one of these pleasing "musics" that are good, because they (even not intentionally / unintentionally catchy) can provide one of the most needed things that prog fan can demand, innovation, quality, progression (by failure?) and yet be interesting (I said it many times, but I have to repeat it over and over again in case you haven't read all of my 400 reviews). Of course, there are void (this word in reviews is becoming my stereotype / cliché) parts, some might say (some argue, other name for "I think) that it's minimalistic and should be worshiped (I say, make it good and people will comply, make it bad and some "smart" (note quotation marks) guy like me will complain about it), but they're not so often. Void part done good is (in my terminology) called "atmospheric piece", or melancholy part, nostalgia, these things.

4(+) with aspiration higher. To the skies (I mean horizons)