ELS NOSTRES PETITS AMICS

Amarok’s debut album was recorded in a solar-powered cottage-turned-studio located in the mountains of northern Catalonia. Except for what sounds like a Casio keyboard played by Robert Santamaria all the instrumentation is acoustic, and many of the song themes are apparently related to nature and environment issues.

There is very little singing on the album, and what there is tends to be ethereal humming and chanting from vocalist Lidia Cerón, who sounds a bit like Enya on anti-depressants. The band apparently spent a year communing with nature and putting together the tracks that make up this album. I can just imagine them scrubbing their hemp clothing on the rocks down by a brook while watching Bambi frolic about among the butterflies and braiding their armpit hair. This should give you some idea what the music sounds like.

I’d place the sound a whole lot closer to ambient New Age than progressive folk. The keyboards set the tone for most of the tracks, while various classical instruments (oboe, violin, bells) and ethnic ones (darbouka, glockenspiel, marimbas, finger drums, gongs) combine to suggest a sort of world music feel.

There are a few interesting moments where the arrangements strive to be more than just background meditation music, mostly on “La Vall de les Marmotes” and “Retorn”. But otherwise this is nearly an hour of the kind of music you want playing quietly on the stereo while you drift off to sleep on a calm spring evening. So it has a purpose, but a fairly limited one.

I love the album’s cover art, what looks like a watercolor sketch that folds out and depicts the cottage the group recorded the album in. The hand lettered liner notes and painting of a wolf standing alert on a rock are also tasteful touches (the band’s name apparently means ‘wolf’ in some Eskimo dialect). But otherwise I have to say that this is borderline as a progressive work, and the album is something that is likely to appeal only to the band’s fans and the kind of people who bathe with healing crystals and eat free-range tofu. As such it qualifies as a two-star work, which is what I’m going to give it. Recommended to Enya and maybe Wendy Carlos fans only.

peace

This debut album from this Spanish band is closely related with the work from Mike Oldfield (but with such a name, there is no wonder).

This album is mostly instrumental even if here and there a sweet female vocal part is filling some tracks. But they are more vocalizing as far as I'm concerned. The music from "ELS NOSTRES PETITS AMICS" is very relaxing, almost New Age with a decent folk touch.

The use of some less conventional instruments certainly adds a feel to this work. Only the long "Somiedo" (almost nine minutes) sounds a bit too classical to my taste. This album is quite in line with some future works from the band ("Canciones De Los Mundos Perdidos") and should please the Oldfield fans.

This is nothing from the other world, but a succession of natural and fine music that could have been used to illustrate some documentary. A good debut album: three stars.

Spanish act Amarok was found in 1990 in Barcelona by Venezuelan composer and multi-instrumentalist Robert Santamaria and female singer Lidia Ceron.For two years they appeared in several venues around the Catalan country and even travelled in Caracas, Venezuela to participate in "IV Encuentro Latinoamericano de Musica Electronica", next to Mexican Prog veteran Jorge Reyes.1993 sees the building of a studio by the band in the rural region of Cataluna, exclusively functioning via solar cells.A year later the self-produced first CD of the band ''Els nostres petits amics'' appears in the market with Santamaria handling several traditional instruments next to his keyboards, Ceron singing and a list of participants helping out: Manel Sese on percussion, Joan Morera on violin, Alfredo Arcusa on drums, Asy Guerrero on guitar, Kerstin Kokocinski on oboe.

This is a very OLDFIELD-ian kind of dreamy Progressive Folk album, which heavily relies on percussion, keyboards and acoustic instruments, supported by the crystalline voice of Ceron, creating ethereal, spacey soundscapes and bordering dangerously with New Age Music.Half sung, half instrumental, the tracks are rather minimalistic with good use of ethnic instruments, like marimbas, bongos and acoustic percussion, covered by Santamaria's proggy keyboard textures.I dislike his performamce on a very weak digital piano, which sounds pretty fake, but the rest of his performance is quite nice and sensitive with orchestral flavors and a fair dose of imaginative melodies.With Ceron sounding a bit like ENYA, the music becomes absolutely pastoral, outlandish and atmospheric, containing some strong Celtic inspirations.Not much of a rock component in here, but some tracks are provided with drums and more pronounced keyboard themes, even flirting with soft Symphonic Rock, led by Santamaria's tricky plays.And at the very end part of the album's atmosphere is left side, replaced by a couple of short, Folk-inspired but trully memorable tunes with intense synthesizers and Lounge acoustics.

ENYA on stage with MIKE OLDFIELD.Quite simplistic description, but this is what ''Els nostres petits amics'' is all about.Ethereal, folky musicianship with good arrangements and fascinating vocals.Recommended.