KAVUS TORABI & RICHARD WILEMAN: HEAVEN'S SUN

This is a very interesting album from Kavus Torabi, and quite different from his previous solo album. The sound is much closer to Richard Wileman's solo albums, so if you're a fan of Wileman's solo albums (which I only just discovered because of *this* album!) you'll like it. Vocally Wileman takes the lead here, and I don't enjoy his voice as much as I like Torabi's, but it's not bad. Lots of unusual harmonies in spots from both of them.

Similar dreamy sounds and psychedelic flavor to other Wileman albums, without the acoustic/accordion/world instruments being so up in the mix as in the other Kavus Torabi album. There are only two side-long pieces, and everything flows together, sometimes very tonally, and sometimes atonally. In places, multiple chords are layered atop each other with some interesting dissonance in the distance, which is something I really enjoy from other bands like Radiohead or Pere Ubu (though Heaven's Sun doesn't remind me of either).

Compositionally this one is a lot weirder than the previous Torabi album, and the chord complexity is all over the map, as are the chord progressions in places. I really like it and have a hard time knowing who to compare it to. There are acoustic, highly composed sections with classical instrumentation, leading into psychedelic trippy chord progressions (almost like Gryphon chords, and in places I'd say a more atonal Gryphon is the closest comparison, though there's no renaissance faire flare here), leading into atonal soundscapes. Very interesting on headphones, and largely unpredictable.