CITY ZEN

I know that I have said this many times, but there is some wonderful music coming out of Poland, and this is yet another band that I have discovered due to my great friend Artur Chachlowski. All of the lyrics are in English, and these have been reproduced in English, but unfortunately their site is only available in Polish so I don't have a great deal to go on. At the time of recording they were a trio, but since then they have lost their guitarist/bassist (bit careless), so instead of a photo of him on the site there is instead a large '?'. That all being put to one side, what we have here is very accessible, very enjoyable prog music. They are obviously hugely influenced by Pendragon, combined with a love of the gentler side of King Crimson and have melded these together in an album that is both light and layered. "If" is a wonderfully controlled ballad with a Floyd-like feel with good vocals and Crimson-style powerful guitar, but even although there is the feeling that the band have the ability to blast it out they are much happier at the softer end of the spectrum.

Originally appeared in Feedback #86, Feb 2006