DIP

This Czech quartet crossed the border to record their second stunning album (most likely cheaper) and a very interesting second album of chamber prog, using plenty of violin, cello, but also adding plenty of electric guitars when needed and signing when they see it fit. The quartet is all strings, no keys and percussions of any kind, but it doesn't mean its music is not rhythmic. Leader and main composer Martin Alacam plays ac & el guitars and is the lead singer, , while Richard Deutsch is on electric guitar and the second writer, while Christoph Pajer plays an always nervous violin, the bass realm being handled Chris Rothaler on cello.

The opening 7-mins+ Love & Napalm sees mostly the violin and acoustic guitar developing a classical theme with slights intonations of Klezmer and makes a convincing intro to the album. Under The Sun gets in thick of things as all four members are included, acoustic guitars over cello drones and a manic violin accompany a fist cool singing, before it develops into frantic vocals, the track crescendoing from a quiet Juverne to a loud Crimsonoid-type of music. The following few tracks alternate in speed and power and make for an enjoying and varied listen, especially Sabah, where Alacam's Arabic-sounding scat (I'm assuming it is) or classical music is particularly hypnotizing. The title track is a frenzied affair, but has calmer moments and ends in a similar "Arab scat" and a manic violin passage.. I know I said that there were no percussion of this album, but the only exception is in the hypnotic Stubsnitz, where Alacam's English singing is fitting perfectly this semi-pagan folk music that resembles Tunng. The album closes on an improvised torturing session of the instruments that make the album's ending a rather weird one

If you're into chamber-prog with delicate and intimate ambiances, no doubt this Austrian quartet is in your sphere of interest and this second album (I haven't heard their first) is a sure bet. I personally like it enough to give it a rating close enough to make it an essential album.