SOUL ENVY

Canadian multi-instrumentalist and composer Id Guinness released his debut album back in 2007, a production that earned him quite a lot of praise with it's sophisticated take on mainstream rock music. In the spring of 2010 he returned with his second effort exploring music residing in the borderlands between mainstream and art rock in the shape of "Soul Envy".

The compositions presented are all of the relatively brief variety, with just one song clocking in at just over 5 minutes in length. The compositional structure is rather straight forward, few shifts in pace and with a limited number of themes and motifs explored. And while the obvious similarities aren't too many, I'd describe the general approach as one containing similarities with artists such as The Beatles, REM and - to some extent - Chris Rea.

The arrangements is the factor that adds levels of sophistication to his endeavours. Floating synths, strings, organ and the occasional mellotron-sounding layer are added to the proceedings. On some occasions as subtle downmixed textures adding minor details to the sonic tapestry, on other occasions in the shape of rich multilayered and at times dominating embellishments to the main musical motif or theme. Late 70's Pink Floyd can probably be called upon as a point of reference for this aspect of the compositions, containing both symphonic and space-tinged elements presented in a warm and sophisticated manner.

All in all it's an interesting album too, where my personal taste goes towards the track Back of My Hand as the standout track amidst many solid efforts. Highly recommended to those who'd like to enjoy a slice of sophisticated mainstream rock with distinct progressive credentials.

Relatively mid-length, relatively short songs, relatively variable material, ranging from more pop to more Prog themed songs. Certainly not entirely consistent album in a way how vintage Symphonic releases are.

Well, talking about symphonic (as in orchestra), just listen to these string arrangements together with something that sounds like more mainstream version of drumming (if you know what I'm talking about), in song Square One almost reminding Vannessa Mae's most popular song. Almost. And even less reminding, because there's something more in this music, it's here present all around, non-typical song structure, twists, melody (whatever you call it).

Hell, Three Steps even reminds Depeche Mode on some kind of Prog drugs.

But it's actually funny & interesting to listen these. Truly cheeky attempt to attract listeners, "Soul Envy" has a lot to offer (and tell). In Green and Bue Berets is on the other hand uplifting and more rocky. However, if there is overall theme to be found (hard to find something unifying these tracks), it would probably be word "dreamy". Because that's what most of these songs are. Needed to say that latter "half" is better than first part.

4(+), most probably I suppose.

Nice variety, from this Canadian talent!

Well, once again I witness the rise of a talented musician, whose writing and composing skills can be appreciated in any of his songs. From Canada, Id Guinness released his debut album back in 2007, and this 2010 he shared to the world his second and so far latest album, entitled "Soul Envy". We can feel lucky, because the whole album can be listened for free via last.fm so if you have time, please go and give it a spin.

Though I have to admit that I would not describe Id Guinness music as the best example of progressive rock, it is evident his link to this musical genre, and his talent to create interesting compositions, with richness of sounds and moods. What I really like about this album, is that variety and connection between the songs, though them all are quite different.

This album features fourteen compositions and a total time of fifty six minutes, so you can imagine the songs are relatively short, which does not mean they are weak, not at all. Id Guinness work is pretty interesting, he plays guitars, percussion and keyboards, and with his voice produces some nice textures and moods. But he has some guest musicians who added their grain of sand, in the second song, we can notice the sound of a violin, creating a cool atmosphere, gently and in moments relaxing.

My favorite song is the fifth track, "Face the Sun" creates a fantastic harmony between music and listener, the voice has a lot to do with that, but also the guitar riffs and the sound of the synthesizer, one can notice several sounds on each second, and all of them build up a cool and interesting structure, that produce images and things to the listener, in this case of course, to me.

While the tracks pass, we can appreciate different stages of his music, from a sweet and melodic track, to more alternative oriented one; from soft and nice catchy songs, to more complex and challenging ones. But well, as all (or at least most) of the albums, it has its pros and cons, here, there are moments that I didn't really enjoy, or well, not how I would have liked, those tracks are "How to Howl", "Three Steps" and "Life as we Know it". ESMA, is a short interlude that at first I thought was unnecessary but later I realized was essential to the musical climax of the album.

But well, just as I pointed my less favorite moments, I must mention the songs that make me smile and feel comfortable while listening. The first, as I already mentioned is "Face the Sun", amazing to my ears. "Square One", "Going to Burning Man" which reminds me to a Led Zep track, "Annapurna" or "Free World", all of them, worth listening tracks.

The album is good, I see my colleagues reviewers were very positive towards it and gave it four stars, I, to be honest, have been struggling with it, because though I do like and enjoy it, every single time I have listened to it, I have never felt that enthusiastic, and in moments, some tracks bore me. Now regarding the progressive rock thing, as I said above, this would not be the best example, so I would not say it is a highly recommendable album for rock fans. For that, I will ive three stars, to this nice album from this promising musician.

Enjoy it!