MANIFEST DENSITY

Seattle-based band Moraine came in life in 2005 and its father is guitarist Dennis Rea, who has been an experienced professional musician for over two decades.Rea started his career with the Kraut-Electronic act Earthstar in late-70's and later he appeared in the Land project of Jeff Greinke, a band that played a mix of Electronic and Folk Music.But his collaborations include names such as Trey Gunn, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, R.E.M. as well as a few solo albums of Free Jazz/Improvisation.In Moraine he originally recruited Alicia Allen on violin, Kevin Millard on bass, Ruth Davidson on cello and Jay Jaskot on drums, the band was then discovered by Moonjune Records and released the debut ''Manifest density'' in 2009.

I do not know if the title was accidentally chosen, both words characterize Moraine's sound pretty good, the music is extremely dense and competes for a manifest of styles, including Prog Rock, Zeuhl, Avant-Garde, Jazz-Fusion and Experimental Rock.Those particular styles tend to be rather chaotic as a mix and Moraine's sound can be efficiently be described as such, it contains hints from the music of KING CRIMSON, MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA, FRANK ZAPPA and even covers the ground of R.I.O.-styled music with strings in evidence.The music ranges from rich and dominant string-based Fusion with some incredible guitar chops by Rea in the process to very loose jams with an experimental mood akin to KING CRIMSON, which even flirt with improvised stylings.Most pieces with the violin in evidence contain both romantic parts and virtuosic mannerisms with a jazzy attitude in the vein of MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA and even DIXIE DREGS, propelled by the nice battles between the strings and Rea's sharp guitar moves.The cello-drenched themes are closer to R.I.O., the music again contains both laid-back and denser moments, but the more abstract and dissonant passages appear here.Rea often takes the lead and his guitar work is always technical, energetic and diverse.The result is a mix of nice and not so good pieces, featuring both atonal and more ''progressive'' moments.

Weird album indeed, but overall pretty satisfying.Avant Prog meets Fusion meets Experimental Rock.Too professional for its own good but still recommended.