TRILI PT. 1

The Caribbean island of Puerto Rico is not commonly known as a hotbed of progressive rock ? with a few notable exceptions, the best-known of which is a guy called Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, founder and mastermind of The Mars Volta, and undoubtedly one of the most exciting musicians of the new century. Even if the island continues to be mostly known for music that has nothing to do with prog (or rock for that matter), the few outfits that have come out of it in the past few years seem to share one thing: they are purveyors of an intriguingly modern brand of prog, which nevertheless is firmly rooted in the glorious past of the genre.

Five-piece Trili are indeed one of the most pleasant surprises of the year for fans of instrumental prog played with both skill and soul. Interestingly, their self-titled debut album was released as two parts, each featuring six tracks. The band's music, fluid and energetic, mostly instrumental (with an exception on each album), is full of surprises, and comes across as remarkably accomplished for such a young band. Though they draw inspiration from a number of apparently disparate sources ? the band members are into the likes of classic rock, prog, punk, jam bands, jazz, blues, and Latin music ? the final product sounds influenced, but never derivative.

As a whole, the album alternates high-energy, heavily guitar-based passages with slower, atmospheric, spacey ones. One of the most striking features of Trili's music is the sleek, dynamic interplay between the guitars (played by Joel and Gaby, the latter also a member of prog metal outfit Ongo), reminiscent of Nineties-era King Crimson. The KC inspiration is quite evident in the album's first two tracks, "Gabitronix Pt. 1" and "Depredador Pt. 1" ? the former track also features some cool Latin-flavoured rhythms at the beginning, while the latter sounds almost post-rockish at times. "Dirt" is the only real song on the album, featuring the vocals of Lily Valdez ? a slow, moody offering that could easily be called a 'torch song', definitely more traditional in structure (including a brilliant guitar solo); while "Lliijaa", very much in contrast, has an almost punkish vibe, and some more great lead guitar work.

That leaves the album's two longest tracks, "Depredador Pt. 2" and "SaKlaKK (Otro Lugar pt. 2). The former is probably the composition which most clearly shows the influence of The Mars Volta, namely their "Frances the Mute" album, alternating high-volume, high-energy parts with quieter, more atmospheric ones. The latter, instead, is the album's epic, their "Echoes" ? and Pink Floyd is definitely their main inspiration here (even the guitar sounds very Gilmour-like). However, it is a very personal interpretation of the classic PF prog-meets-psychedelia sound, with a very modern bite to the faster, more energetic sections, and a pulsating, dreamy quality to the more spacey ones. If this is the main direction towards which the band are heading, it is a very promising one indeed.

Since "Trili Pt. 2" has its own, separate entry, my review will continue there. Though it may seem a rather unusual way to release an album, in my opinion it only adds to the band's originality and appeal.

Really 3.5

The words “jam band” often conjure up an image, something that’s fun for the musician, but maybe not so much for the listener. Trili believe that they have figured a way out of that one; make a band that jams ambient mood music. “Now wait a second,” you say, “how the hell does THAT work?” Don’t worry, Trili is also a hard rock band. Sounds confusing doesn’t it?

Fortunately, it also sounds good. The eponymous debut opens with “Gabitronix Pt. 1,” which transforms from a host of moody guitar noises and building bass and drums into a Larks Tongues in Aspic style metal number with clever, and memorable, riffage. A very promising start, and the best number on the album.

“Depredador Pt. 1” is a more straightforward number that borders on the metallic, and provides adequate headbanging material. Right up until the end, when it fades into ambient noise, and morphs into “Depredador Pt. 2,” which is more Porcupine Tree style metal, but with jam band twists and builds that makes it deeper, and therefore, more interesting.

“Dirt” is the first track to have vocals, which is an interesting change. At heart, it’s a power ballad, and a very pleasant one at that. “Lliijaa” pulls us back into the professional jam band theatrics, tossing out bluesy jamming, art metal, psychedelic jazz, and...and do I detect surf rock? Yes, I do believe I do. Nice.

“SaKlaKK” finishes the album off in a big way (I mean, c’mon dude! Twenty minutes). It might be a bit much over all, but it’s made out of tasty enough stuff. It covers a lot of ground, starting with moody Latin themes, then transferring them to a moody hard rock backing, dissolving into ambient, and closing it off with moody keyboard soloing that reflects Ray Manzarek’s jazzy electric piano ala “Riders on the Storm.” As I said, a bit much, but if you can stand it, real fun.

Which is the best way to describe the album as a whole. It’s solid, and good listening, but I can’t shake the feeling that’s something missing...the ballads (er, ballad) could be more emotionally rewarding, the riffs could be a bit more memorable...but why concentrate on what’s not there?

What IS there is good, solid construction on just about every song. I’m serious when I say this, the construction of the record is just about perfect. These folks know their way around a studio, every instrument is in its right place. The rhythm is loose, but not sloppy, the leads are layered so that they never overpower anything. The riffs might not be particularly innovative, but they’re solid, and clearly this is real jamming, not just pointless improvisation.

This album shows has no lack of confidence whatsoever. It just needs a tiny push in the right direction, something to make it a little more involving for the listener, and it would be the perfect synthesis of hard rock jamming and ambient mood music. Surely this is not a radically new concept; one could argue that Trili is picking up where bands like Can and Amon Duul II left off. Maybe it lacks a tad of the ingenuity, but it has all of the professionalism, and anyone who wants something moody, in a background kinda way, but doesn’t want some sissy Brian Eno on their playlist, Trili Pt. 1 is an album they need to check out.

Like a lot of instrumental albums of this ilk, sensing direction and melody can be an arduous, if impossible task. It's full of good ideas, but they are all just fragments stitched together without much consideration for structure. Musically, it could be described as similar to one of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's less experimental solo projects.

"Gabitronix Pt. 1" The opening and shortest track is a cautious blend of rock and jazz with subtle Latin approaches. It has a maddening, almost chaotic flow to it, with several jarring passages linked together by more calming ones.

"Depredador Pt. 1" Not content to just feed the guitar through a wah pedal, they feed the bass through one as well. The final portion is a drearily experimental one, almost like listening to music in the depths of the sea.

"Depredador Pt. 2" An explosive chord and series of riffs interrupts the soft, wandering music the track begins with. Fairly straightforward guitar solos take over from there, followed by a very pleasing bass solo performed over airy drums. From there, a repetitive riff rolls in, giving the drummer a chance to showcase his talent and give his snare quite a workout. The remainder of the piece is meandering and noisy, and not at all worthy of its length, I'm afraid.

"Dirt" Light, quaking organ forms the backbone of this gentle, hazy track, alongside a steady bass and drums. Unexpectedly, a female's husky voice comes to the fore, and is surprisingly good, particularly singing with herself on the chorus. She has a bit of grit to her voice in places, matching the crunchy guitar that consumes the final part of the song just before the guitarist erupts in a fiery solo.

"Lliijaa!" This consists of a fast-paced country shuffle with low, gritty guitar notes (quite similar to "Ghost Riders in the Sky"), all performed at an uncomfortable time signature. It takes a bluesy feel toward the latter portion. After some solo chords by a crispy electric guitar, the music stops completely, and the band begins again for another twenty seconds or so.

"Sakalkk" The bass pumps two notes (that grows into more) at a time while the other instruments mess around a bit. This setup makes for a slightly psychedelic and drawn-out piece. This unfortunately is the weakest track of the album (despite that it is by far the longest), because it largely consists of more than twenty minutes of jamming or dull improvisation, mostly with electric guitar or electric piano, and though the bass riff changes from time to time, the key and time signature is stagnant, thereby endowing the music with absolutely no variety whatsoever.