FRACTAL

This pleasant Chilean production offers a mix of fairly traditional rhythms, melodies and instrumentation and more ponderous Latin tinged prog. A more mellow and less progressive LOS JAIVAS might begin to characterize the sound. While it's all good albeit short of earth shattering, I prefer the more eclectic pieces and so probably will you.

"Desde el Sol" expounds upon motifs in the orchestral "Obertura", and, along with "El Fin", are among the most deliberate and dramatic pieces. "Tara" is one of several in which the intersection of Latin and Middle Eastern music is explored with considerable courage and success, or perhaps it's simply an expression of parallel lineage. "Espacios" blends dreamy vocal expressions with acoustic guitar and what sounds like a brass instrument, and exploits its repetitiveness without overplaying it.

The more lively tunes are fine but seem simplistic by comparison, such as the chipper Olodumare" and "Cuanda no Estabo", and the celtic sounding "Baile II". "Puentes", on the other hand, seems to best capture the band's prog and traditional inspirations in one piece, a fluid instrumental with plenty of flutes but also a jazzy ambiance and prominent bass.

This is one of those albums that took me a while to assess as I kept trying to uncover more stones only to discover that my impressions were pretty much spot on to begin with. "Fractal" represents good but largely unexceptional South American prog folk that is definitely worth a listen if you are so inclined.