THE DELUGE

The album builds in intensity, beginning with a slower tempo and laid back melodies, and ending with more powerful pieces filled with standout bass and percussion and sweeping crescendo's. First-time listeners who might find the first couple of tracks a little slow and understated could skip to tracks 5 and beyond, but I recommend waiting it out and enjoying the full ascent.

By the band's own admission, there is no front-man. While Andrew Mckee, Matthew O'Rane, and Grant Jordan shared writing responsibilities, all members share the spotlight during their performance. Much like traditional jazz pieces, the musicians do a round-robin exchange of the lead -- each taking turns contributing to the overall theme. A viola lead gives way to acoustic guitar, then to electric guitar, and even occasional horns. As the album progresses, the bass and percussion move more to the forefront contributing to the overall buildup in intensity. One aspect common to all tracks is that they end with some synthetic element, be it a heartbeat, breathy winds, thunder, water dripping in a cave, alien communications, or jungle beats.

Influences appear to be numerous: world music elements similar to Azigza, viola passages reminiscent of Electric Asturias and Jean-Luc Ponty, guitar motifs that make me think of Al Di Meola, and horn passages that would sound right at home on King Crimson's "Lizard" album or Cirque du Soleil's "La Nouba" soundtrack. Sadly, the horn passages are too few and fleeting.

The writing, arrangements, and musicianship are all superb, and I thoroughly enjoyed the wordless vocals as they emulated yet another instrument in the mix. My only critique is that the album is a little flat dynamically, but that is probably just an artifact of the compression in the MP3 files I listened to for this review. The album is completely enjoyable and would be a great addition to any collection. Four stars.