THE VOYAGE OF ICARUS

The Voyage of Icarus is a high class bucolic acid folk effort released in a relative discretion by an acoustic north american duo. This mysterious duo has written what I consider to be among the finest and the most refined essays published under the progressive folk label. Each note and each chord played evokes a real purety and an eternal beauty. The two musicians use a large variety of instruments, from intimate fingerpicked guitar to warm organs, flute and ethno percussions. The ambiences are really charming and full of simplicity. The progressive arrangements / ingredients appear inside fragile, authentic folk ballads. Simple, dreamy-like folkish vocals appear all along the album. The duo approaches the Christian folk territory at the beginning of the album with super melodic, evasive & acoustic forest ballads as the optimistic Poustinia , the melancholic / nocturnal Not Enough or the magnificant, ethereal Windbridge (with its dark guitar tone and angelic female voices). Harrow Hill is a celtic, medieval inspired song with gentle pop accents. From Velvet & Gold to the end, the album turns to something darker, less traditional and more progressive in the choice of contrasts, various textures. Velvet & Gold is a mesemerizing psych folk trip with lugubrious harmonies. Babylon is a beautiful epic ballad with a medieval, semi- classical instrumentation, delicate female voice, always composed in a dramatic vein. Coming storm is a calm, pseudo romantic piano interlude with a nice nostalgic atmosphere. Revelation features narrations accompanied by enigmatic, strange abstract / cosmic noises. A true masterpiece that needs several listenings. Unique!