ATONEMENT OF A FORMER SAILOR TURNED PAINTER

Album number five for this Moongarden offshoot, led by keyboardist Cristiano Roversi and guitarist Davide Cremoni, who also both manage the lunar park. After two initially uneven recordings, the undersea ship's captains have charted a new course towards more convincing waters ever since their 2016 album "Journey Through Mine" and further buoyed by 2020's "Did Swans Ever See God". The arrival back then of singer Guillermo Gonzalez surely raised the periscope on new quadrants to navigate and this latest album stays firmly on path. The new sailors on board are fine recruits, as Marco Croci mans a solid bass anchor, while legendary drummer Maurizio di Tollo is among the finest percussionists in Italy. He will surely tackle the concussive depth charges with his usual technical brilliance. Vocalist Manuela Milanese adds a feminine voice to the crew. The premise is a sea-faring travelogue through the Caribbean, visiting the various differing cultures, using 5 different languages (English, French, Dutch, Haitian Creole and Portuguese) in the process of explain the various ports of call along the way. The suggestion is for listeners to check out the lyrics and join in as fellow passengers on the voyage from one island to another.

The giants of the ocean never cease to amaze, and "Majestic Whales" suggests a prog version of natural contemplation, a metronomic pulse from Di Tollo as well as along infusion of subtle synthesizers and its companion lead guitar, together delivering a fair amount of sullen reflection and courageous spirit. As the theme keeps elevating towards the surface, the spectacle begins truly kicks in, as guest guitarist Roine Stolt launches a luminous guitar torpedo that ultimately hits the mark. peeling off a glittering flurry of notes from his loquacious guitar. Great track, indeed.

"Les Mots Que Tu Ne Dis Pas" is French for 'words that you do not say' and comes as an interesting premise for a luxuriant track that requires a few spins before settling comfortably in the galley. Roversi flaunts his surly organ with rampaging effectiveness, Gonzalez seemingly in a fair amount of angst, as he rages in his mike with tempered hostility, while Di Tollo bashes everything in his way. Suddenly Milanese and the piano join in calming down the crew.

Jangly guitars announce "Limbo of the Rootless", putting Milanese's voice once again at forefront, Guillermo taking over after a while and then the two voices singing in parallel. A church organ solemnly shifts the overall fell into a bluesier ramble, handing off the lead to twirling axe solo that dances and soars as the mellotron wreaks further havoc. Organ fuelled manic operatics, whipping synths and a masterful rhythmic assault gets the sonar hyperactive as the temperature starts to boil. The arrangement dives into a deeper groove whilst still maintaining a steady course, before Milanese's voice reestablishes the original theme with perfect finality. The core of this album is the gigantic 21-minute epic "Suite Atonement", where the crew get to stretch out and flex its muscles. All pastoral sweetness, acoustic guitar, flute and mellotron to begin, in an almost early Genesisian style, both voices blending into the fray, as Cremoni slaps an energetic guitar into the mix, a hushed voice and thumping bass section momentarily remindful of "the Knife", before soaring into more advances sonic glitter. He is often referred to as the Italian Steve Hackett, what with his Moongarden repertoire and Submarine Silence having started out as a Genesis tribute (The River of Constant Change). The arrangement does navigate into stormy weather, as the gale-like winds shudder and shake the metal tube hull, quickly diving deeper into calmer realms (as depicted by an aquatic synth section, all liquid bubbles escaping from the hatches). The band goes through a series of variant transitions where certain grooves can be played out, the organ-bass duet is interesting to say the least, an acoustic guitar echoing in the abyss, the dual Portuguese, Creole and French voices compressed by the cabin pressure, the distant doom of possible disaster, as 'Niet Vergeten' is repeated solemnly (Dutch for 'Do not Forget'). Fearless drunken sailors singing to the moon.

Bonus track "Zena "is an elegant piece of pastoral beauty, whistling synth and more acoustic guitar setting the stage for another Cremoni pirouette on his trusted guitar, adding heartfelt tone and undeniable emotion into every note.

All in all, an enjoyable release that requires one to listen multiple times and imbibe themselves into the narrative and feel a belonging that the musicians are striving to create. As an added extra, the Ed Unitsky artwork is, as per norm, off the maritime charts !

4 thoughtful career choices

They say you shouldn't read books from the last page. They say you shouldn't watch movies from the last scene. They say you shouldn't... This time I didn't listen to good advice and started familiarizing myself with the latest album by Submarine Silence entitled "Atonement Of A Former Sailor Turned Painter" (which I guess can be translated as: "The penance of a former sailor who became a painter") from the insert/cover. And... I don't regret it, because the insert is exceptional. There are of course lyrics, information about the band, the recording location, acknowledgments, but they are not the most important. The insert/cover is another wonderful example of Ed Unitsky's illustrative skills. I have already allowed myself to write about the artist in the description of The Samurai Of Prog (feat. Marco Grieco) album "The Time Machine", but maybe as a reminder it is worth mentioning the names of several bands and artists whose albums are decorated with drawings and graphics by this author: The Tangent, The United Progressive Fraternity, Unitopia, This Winter Machine, Guy Manning, Moongarden, The Flower Kings, Starcastle, Mandalaband, Nine Stone Close and Thomas Bodin. These fairy-tale-like and fantasy illustrations appeal to me every time, because this fairy-tale quality somehow always reminds me of progressive rock - twisted rhythms, concept albums, compositions with an "abnormally long" duration. In addition, Unitsky illustrates individual compositions, he does not create "pictures" decorating the album insert, but with his drawings he adds and visualizes the content of the albums. Maybe it suggests an interpretation? ... Probably to some extent, but it also extracts and "embodies" the message contained in the songs.

This is also the case with the latest work of the band Submarine Silence. Just by looking at the cover, we can see that the album will tell a story about a sailor seeking redemption through art, which, like the stormy seas of his past, conveys images in brushstrokes that at the same time expose his restless soul. And a lot happened in the hero's life, so the musical story of his fate is rich in events. Each song and the story it tells sends the listener to fairy- tale lands: the "Leviathan's Dream" Tavern - a place of fleeting shelter, shared stories and carefree sailor joy; the haunted Mermaid's Tooth Reef - suspended somewhere between storm and calm and at the same time being an abyss for lost souls, and finally to the Sailor's Painter's Palette, which tries to combine art and memory in a wordless plea for forgiveness and peace.

The subsequent pages of the album insert, like a quasi-comic book, present the listener with images illustrating the compositions heard. But musically, everything begins with... the endless roar of the ocean, i.e. with the song "Majestic Whales". From the formal side, it is a cover of the song of the same title by Anthony Phillips from the album "Sail The World" from 1994. This short song in its original version (only three minutes long) grows here to the rank of an almost seven-minute introduction to a musical journey through the vastness of ocean memories. This extended composition is not only a wonderful overture to the rest of the piece, but also a wonderful instrumental miniature that, looped, can go on and on forever. There are more bold keyboards than in the original, gentle guitars and simple melodicism positively force you to familiarize yourself with the fate of the former sailor. Even the solo by Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings), who guest-played on this piece, is somehow gentler, somehow soothing.

With the song "Les Mots Que Tu Ne Dis Pas" ("The Words You Don't Say") begins the real story of the fate of a sailor thrown somewhere far from familiar places, somewhere far from a sense of security and happiness, drowning his confusion in alcohol in the tavern "Lawiatan's Dream". Here, among the shadows and ghosts filling this world, the tired gaze of the hero of the story that is just beginning is drawn to a stormy couple: a robust Dutchman with muscles sculpted by the sea and a Creole girl with a magic smile, who dance a fiery and icy ballet, immersed in the bitter nectar of despair, locked in a battle of unspoken desires and shared silence. He, with the hardness of a man who has faced the wrath of the ocean; she, with the wild fragility of someone who has loved and lost more times than can be counted. Driven by some mysterious impulse, the narrative hero begins to hum a melody ? a melody woven from abandoned dreams and intertwined fates. After a while, his humming is joined by the voice of a dancer and a duet of two souls speaking different languages begins. And so a ballad about hidden longings and dark dreams is created, which musically begins with an almost minute-long improvisational organ- guitar intro, which sets the arrangement direction of the entire composition. For six minutes, the piece balances between two styles: symphonic-organ immersed in the early seventies (with a touch of The Flower Kings / Transatlantic, please listen to the organ ? third minute and thirty seconds), and a typical approach to composing, which we find in the work of bands similar to Rock Progressivo Italiano. A less attentive listener may have a bit of a problem at first, because first of all, the entire song is performed in two languages (English and French), and in addition, there are two intertwined vocal lines: the "sailor" (Guillermo Gonzales) and the "dancer" (Manuela Milanese). But after all, this is a duet of two souls speaking different languages... and it is the vocal fragments performed in a duet that give the whole a dramatic and somewhat despairing tone.

This bilingualism (or even pentalingualism) is a characteristic feature of the third track on the album - "Limbo Of The Rootless". Yes... There is no mistake here. The narrative story of the Mermaid's Tooth Reef - an abyss that has kidnapped a brave sailor and whose spirit is trapped between death and sleep after being carried away by the raging sea is sung in five languages: English, French, Portuguese, Dutch and... Haitian Creole. It is a story about the tides that wash over the shore and are a message to those who drift ? rootless souls lost between worlds. The sailor, in this piece, is not a conquering hero, but an eternal traveler. He is a ghostly guide for those brave enough to seek solace in the dangerous embrace of the reef. His presence is a silent beacon for those who wander the endless depths, an unwavering star in the endless sea. This is more or less the story told in this piece. Musically, please be prepared for many surprises: a guitar, almost folk beginning that turns into a beautiful folk-neo- progressive ballad that is slightly reminiscent of the work of the band MOONGARDEN; a guitar solo, slightly exotic- sounding, in the third minute; wonderful organ sounds somewhere in the fourth minute that are reminiscent of the sounds of classic Italian progressive bands; slightly irritating chanted declamations introducing narrative "confusion" and speeding up the tempo of the song; a wonderful organ solo halfway through the song; of course... an over one and a half minute long guitar solo, somewhere in the sixth minute, and... a "siren song" (performed by Manuela Milanese) in the final part, which sums up the story of those who seek solace: "(...) Your call echoes through the wind's howl / A melody for the restless, a guiding scowl / An enchanted song for those who seek / in this Reef souls surrender".

The title track from the album "Atonement Of A Former Sailor Turned Painter" is a suite of over twenty minutes divided into eight parts. The suite takes us to the historical Caribbean, starting this journey with an instrumental visit to the island of Guadeloupe, and after a short gentle introduction played on an acoustic guitar supported by muted and gently sounding keys, it takes the listener to Port of Spain. However, this is not about the current capital of Trinidad and Tobago, but about a mythical place somewhere at the end of the world, which gathered all sorts of pirates, life's castaways and other scum in the 17th and 18th centuries. About the place "(...) Where dreams conspire / In the Tavern's glow where / Hopes catch fire".

The third part of the suite ("Shango Orishas" - the Brazilian god of nature - RP) brings a change of pace and, being a confession of the powerlessness tormenting the narrative hero - "(...) In the deep blue sea / May the low spirits settle in me / Lost souls, drifting / horizons blur, let them find their cure: / the endless canvas of waters' embrace, the ocean's whisper through the floating hallway" - with its decisive, powerful arrangement, pushes the suite onto rock tracks with a melodic guitar solo at the end. The very short fourth part ("The Floating Painter's Palette") slows down, adjusting to the words: "(...) Now I'm left alone / With my brush (...) / In this floating breezeway where secrets hide", to give way to the equally short fifth part ("Chanson a la lune") sounding like a repeatedly repeated refrain of a song sung by a drunken company. It is worth noting the end of this part, which once again gains pace and power, that from the arrangement perspective it is marked by a looped and almost monotonous guitar line and improvising in a jazzy style organ. The sixth part ("Port-Au-Prince" - the capital of Haiti - RP note) is again a duet with an acoustic guitar and at the same time probably the most neo-progressive part of the suite. The almost 45-second guitar solo should satisfy every listener. The penultimate part ("Niet Vergeten!" - "We will not forget!") begins unexpectedly. It is a melodeclamation (in Dutch) woven into the ending guitar solo from the previous part and the growing sounds of the organ. Its pathetic nature should not be surprising - it is a reminiscence of a lost sailor, but this idea can certainly be expanded: it is a reminiscence of all the lost and lost. "Self Portrait Of Two" is the final part of the entire composition, an anthem addressed to some unspecified YOU, so maybe that YOU is you, listener? This outro contains a huge belief in a second chance for everyone ? "(?) As we paint our souls anew". Because you can create yourself anew?

The bonus recording and the last one on the CD is an instrumental piece entitled "Zena". And if "Majestic Whales" was initially an introduction to the rest of the album, this three-minute composition can be considered a calming ending maintained in a light and, contrary to what is in the autumn-winter sky, summer atmosphere.

In the entry in the "encyclopedia" of every fan of broadly understood progressive music ? Progarchives ? the band Submarine Silence is written as follows: "(?) The group can be regarded as a side-project of the neo- progressive group Moongarden". Well... I think it's high time to delete this term. Maybe someday, maybe somehow... but that was a long time ago. Besides, the term side-project sounds as if it were something less important, random, just a musical whim. Meanwhile, the latest album proves that we are dealing with a band that creates music with a capital M. It's a pity that their albums are released more or less every four years, but I hope that will change. In their current line-up, the band shows that they are in very good shape, and the album is worth recommending.

And finally, out of my reviewing duty, I will remind you of the line-up: Guillermo Gonzales (vocals), David Cremoni (guitars), Cristiano Roversi (organs, synthesizers), Manuela Milanese (vocals), Marco Croci (bass guitar) and Maurizio del Tollo (drums).

And just a short thank you to Marco Croci for his words, nice correspondence and a few album tips.

'Majestic Whales' is excellent as a symphonic melodic prog intro, an invitation to travel, fresh, easy to listen to and offering a typical sound with this radiant pad and this warm synth, all embellished with David's spleen and hacketian guitar which melts any prog in need of languorous prog; one of the most beautiful symphonic intros of this end of the year; in short a story of sailors, of storms, a sound which will print the regressive air of the Dino prog time by telling the glorious story of these sea buccaneers. 'Les mots que tu ne dis pas' with a singular sound and a title in French not sung in French except the chorus, a sound which juggles between folk and vintage prog with an organ of the time 'Limbo of the Rootless' is worth it for its vintage folk air and Manuela's voice lending language; it is especially Cristiano who sets the musical fire with his various keyboards.

'Atonement of a Former Sailor Turned Painter' for the complex epic piece, with drawers, 8 in fact, a musical fresco that can recall GENESIS and its 'Suppers' for the length, a typical French refrain of sailors singing for the moon, yes it's funny; in short between symphonic prog, melodic and Genesisian above all, colorful, filled with various keyboards that make you dizzy at times. A complicated piece that would have been excellent during the 80s, or even before, but which does not really take off today, this vintage side erasing the creation. In fact it takes off but with a feeling of repetition; and yet David's captivating guitar offers beautiful solos during the different pieces. An end of the major title with the arpeggio in the language of Molière with sailors' songs in a bar, confusing and disconcerting 'Zena' as a bonus for the final interlude between medieval, symphonic and RPI, a cheerful and languorous instrumental at the same time, beautiful but conventional, return to the port, the journey is over.

A confusing album because it is not RPI as described and not Albionesque, between the two for this album which gives pride of place to keyboards and progressive derivations worthy of a Neal MORSE and his ilk. (3.5)