ONEIRONAUTS

Quantum Fantay with Ozric Tentacles as spiritual fathers.

"Flight into Hive Mind" starts, quickly we are on Ozric Tentacles, Øresund Space Collective with an insistent reggae dub note that sets them apart; a title that slides and melts like ice cream in the sun. "Wakening" changes tone with electro, aqueous synths, surfing on Tangerine Dream, with reverbs that can put you in a trance. Ed from Ozric appears there, the guitar goes into symphonic space rock territory; a melting pot of the original Floyd, Hawkwind and again Tangerine. "Mnomic Induction of Lucid Dream" continues, fatter in synth, electro from the 80s for a modern title where the guitar splits a superb solo with the crescendic finale amplifying the air with captivating and hypnotic sounds. "Upwards and Onwards" continues to enhance the sound by bringing a flood of psychedelic rock metal, keyboard overlays, a heavy guitar that promotes trance; the strong bass break brings back to the Floyd of yesteryear for a hypnotic dynamite trip-jam.

"Oneironautics" repetitive reverberant start that destabilizes the ear, not knowing who to trust anymore. A title that swells, that rises, that makes you headbang, that avoids consuming like in the 70s to go far away, avoiding the bad trip in fact; crescendo, hypnotic, varied and orgasmic rise with Tom's guitar again in the spotlight. "Scurdy Flurdy" with a bucolic flute in the spotlight that will wander before bringing the title on superpositions of musical layers, between Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream, Apsaras and Vollenweider. A divine guitar solo comes to line the listening room; final where the keyboard notes spurt everywhere. "Solora" arrives, its primary synth and the magic guitar forward; an umpteenth dreamlike rise amplified by the pregnant and catchy guitar solo. "Orchid Borealis" concludes the album with a refrain of space rock sounds, leading to wandering, to floating in space, drunk. The psychedelic rock of today, hypnotic and captivating, without barriers, which is too easy to listen to and makes you lose track of time.

Quantum Fantay certainly does not invent anything but always reproduces it very well. Originally on Progcensor (4).

Pete Mush (synths, bass, flutes, percussion), Tom Tee (guitars) and Jaro (bass) have three different drummers on this album, while Charles Sla has returned to guest on flute and they have another guest in the mighty Ed Wynne, which given their musical style makes total sense as there is no doubt that Ozrics have been the major influence on their style. Pete and Jaro have been a constant since the debut album in 2005 while Charles Sla was a full member at that time and this is their ninth studio album, the fourth I have come across, and yet again shows a band who present music in a very fluid style with no need for the interruption on vocals as the music takes us and them on a journey.

They describe their music as space trance fusion dub progrock and that is as good a description as any I guess, but it might just be easier to think of a band which has Ozrics at its core, then adds Gong and Steve Hillage, sometimes with more of a rock guitar focus, and others just drifting along on the keyboards which swirl inside the mind. This is music which is far better to be played on headphones when the listener wants to be taken on a journey as opposed to playing in the background where it can be lost. At times it can be very direct and feel there is a vision and direction they want to achieve, almost as if we are going along a motorway, while at others we are the meandering stream, taking our time and whatever path we find as we babble slowly in the landscape. They have also taken some influences from Jean Michel Jarre, putting into the melting pot and creating something which yet again is a very enjoyable album indeed.