LUNAR FOLK TALES (INSTRUMENTAL VERSION)

Using an interesting format by releasing three different versions of the same album, the first instrumental, the second with vocals sung in the band's native Russian, and a third with the vocals sung in English, LUNAR CAPE has an intentionally non-pop motivation behind their light, folkie jazz tunes. Gorgeous melodies abound throughout.

The instrumental versions:

1. "History Of The Moon" (2:43) opens with nice guitar arpeggio repeated until wooden flute (basso recorder?) and, later, treated wooden alto flute enter. Cool Northern folk intro! Almost a N. Carlos Nakai feel to it. (9/10)

2. "Nymph Syrinx Amidst The Stars" (5:37) delightful upbeat prog folk that sounds like it came from the flower children of the 1960s and early 1970s. (9/10)

3. "Doughball's Travels" (3:56) slightly more Russian/Eastern European informed Prog Folk here with balalaika, flutes, accordion and hand percussives weaving together with the electric bass and electric guitar. Could be a polka. Or a track from a Spaghetti Western. (7.5/10)

4. "Old Man Crawley And Wood Goblin" (5:10) slower and a little more sinister, the flute makes it a bit more disarming. Electric guitar tracks in the end of the second minute turn it back to scary, but they disappear within 30 seconds and we're then treated to a gorgeous flute solo over gentle electric guitar arpeggi. This is then followed/joined by odd/eerie male vocalizations before everything crumbles into the end. Interesting. (8/10)

5. "Blacksmith" (2:55) opens with electric guitar before mediæval wooden flutes bring in a mediæval folk melody (English). Halfway through the guitar starts strumming while mouth percussion (basso recorder) and breathy flute play off each other before returning to the pastoral beauty of the verses for the finish. (8.5/10)

6. "Who Brought The Berries?" (6:15) plays like a whimsical Rockabilly song with rodeo bass, drums and guitar play while flute and percussives play around above, between, and below. The frenzied flute solo in the end of the third minute is cool. A slowed down section soon ensues in which a bluesy pick-less lead guitar solo ensues (somewhat reminiscent of legendary Roy Buchanan). Flute joins in while guitar continues to perform its magic. Truly an astonishing guitar sound and solo! Then at 5:25 we return to the happy-go-lucky sound and melodies from the opening section. (8.5/10)

7. "Greedy Cousin Leprechaun" (4:29) brooding bass line opens before rapid-fire cymbal and fuzzy electric guitar "power" chords join in with a second electric guitar track of picking. Flute enters and takes the lead. Fuzzy guitar takes lead at 1:43 with a STEPPENWOLF-like solo. Flute returns in a higher octave. Flute, tin whistle, and guitar take turns in the lead to the end. (8.5/10)

8. "What The Peacock Is Silent About (Oriental)" (7:34) opens in a brooding manner like a song from RETURN TO FOREVER's Romantic Warrior album. At 1:25 the song shifts rather dramatically into a kind of C&W/Rock structure and sound over which flute displays the melody. Lots of neat shifts from the instrumentalists within the constantly changing weave here. Even the styles of flute play shift form time to time. Electric guitar takes a turn to deliver a 1980s-EDDIE VAN HALEN style solo beginning at 3:40. At 4:40 the bass takes a turn with minimal support (in a typical jazz style). At 5:40 guitar strums and Arab-sounding male chanting enter before bass and flute accompany. Cool section! The final minute feels like the end to a FOCUS or FROM.UZ song before emptying space for the wind- supported Arab chanter. (8.5/10)

Four stars; a nice addition to the creative, jazzy edge of Prog Folk.

The second effort by the charming eccentrics of Lunar Cape exaggerates the Prog Folk whimsy of their debut album ("Just Lunatics", 2016), to a point where the Jazz Rock pigeonhole of the band's page in these Archives now seems completely wrong.

A drastic purge in the lineup, from a sextet to the current augmented trio, might have actually helped to focus their eclectic style. The instrumentation resembles a typically multi-tasked Gentle Giant recording session, but with curious detours. Translating from the Cyrillic runes of the official Lunar Cape website, Andrey Shaskov is listed as "bass guitarist, bass flutist, and storyteller"; Olga Scotland (possibly a pseudonym) plays flute, mandolin, recorder, tin whistle, and "all sorts of things"; and Roman Smirnov is given responsibility for " guitars, ocarina, and pure positive"...although I strongly suspect a Google Translation failure for that last credit.

Drums are rare, and by invitation only. Thus the Ian Anderson-like fluting of Ms. Scotland assumes a more prominent role here, together with the washboard and mandolins giving the music its medieval peasant vigor. Rock dynamics are kept to a minimum, but they do exist: in "Greedy Cousin Leprechaun", and the exotic Jethro-Tull-in-Arabia groove of "What the Peacock is Silent About". Fans of the debut Lunar Cape album might also recognize the feline tease of "Cat Bite", recycled here as the more unplugged "Old Man Crowley and Wood Goblin".

The fanciful track titles are meant to suggest imaginary fairy tale narratives, to be further explored in upcoming separate English and Russian language editions of the album: a novel plan that I hope doesn't suffer from the inevitable redundancy. This first version is entirely instrumental, and benefits from the more universal appeal: it's hard to imagine how words could possibly improve the folk-art purity of the music alone. The project was originally conceived for children, and in their undiluted instrumental form the songs retain a lot of that childlike innocence and joy, but in a manner equally attractive to discerning young-at-heart adults.

The vocal alternatives are overdue, by the way. But don't worry: in the meantime the album is also available as a collection of 30- to 40-second ringtones, for the next time you receive a phone call from the moon.