THE BIG CARROT (AND MISUSE OF IT)

Nearly impossible to categorise this type of music, Orchestre Celesti (aka Federico Fantacone) go on an experimental free-improvisation ride on this ironically-named seventh release of theirs. Clocking at nearly 30-minutes this is a hefty dose of prog for an EP release.

At first listen the carrot may seem difficult to swallow but subsequent plays made me feel more at ease with the style. Below the sax and trumpet samples aiming to give a querky, eclectic and jazzy twist, there is a fairly atmospheric background, almost exclusively driven by keyboards that blend 70's British prog rock and RPI; the lack of guitars may not expose the connection at first. The keyboards and limited moog synths create a spacey atmosphere of Gryphon meets Gentle Giant, though keeping the majority of the album at reasonable levels of complexity. The ''crossover'' tag does sound limiting...

I have enjoyed the more electronica-biased tracks such as ''The Storyboard of Dreams'' where Vangelis meets Kraftwerk and especially the adventurous Genesis-like keyboard-playing in ''The Big Carrot'', probably the most interesting track. The drum samples give away that this is an indie production but don't become annoying. I would prefer the middle part of the EP to not go to slumber mode and add more variations to keep the interest at higher levels as the opening and closing tracks do, but even then this is a rather pleasant and intriguing release that would satisfy the more adventure-seeking proggers that love instrumental prog.