ATOM

"Atom" by Román Gil is a spectacular album released in 2023 that I personally completely and unfairly overlooked. This Catalan musician takes us on a surprising inner journey that remains firmly rooted in his own time and culture despite the multiple classical references to sinfoprog with instrumental moments of epic and captivating orchestral elegance (listen to Vida), others more pastoral or even allusions to the nova canço catalana.

Some of the best-known avenues of seventies rock that we like so much (whether Anglo-Saxon - King Crimson- Hispanic - Ibis- or South American - Crucis, Congreso-), are here reviewed from the particular prism of this author who surrounds himself with an overwhelming instrumental group of string quartet (Brossa Quartet de Corda), voices, flute, trumpet, piano, drums, accordion, bass... Special mention deserves the use of the texts, perfectly intertwined and sonorous, both in message and phonetics, which function almost like another instrument, very much in the Spinetta style.

Melancholic and transcendent, plumbing the depths of the soul, while remaining free, open and exploratory, and at all times removed from any tendency towards affectation, Román's "Atom" contains countless revelations for anyone who has not yet encountered the output of this visionary artist, who emerges once again in 2024 on this lavish reissue as one of the most strikingly unique bodies of progressive music we're likely to hear this year.