NIMRODEL

Portuguese band Almuadem are a new outfit, with one release to date "Nimordel". Their music can be tricky to pin down in terms of genre, as demonstrated by their classification on this site (psychedelic/space rock) and their biographical description ("experimental"). The overall mood here though is best described as relaxed but not quite ambient.

The opening 8 minute piece for example, starts out with loose ambient sounds, but a defined rhythm is soon picked out as the track takes form, supporting a pleasant improvisation. "Nymphomania" also centres around the keyboards of Gustavo Marques, the repetitive plink-plinks rather irritatingly diverting attention from some good old fashioned mellotron.

"Blow up" features the first discernible appearance of guitars (played by Thomas Belpalme), the track as a whole being somewhat heavier and louder thanks in part to the pounding drums. There remains though, an overall looseness to the music which never really seems to get out of first gear.

The feature track is the 12 minute "Dial D for dream". The drumming here is rather more intrusive in the post rock style. It is completely at odds with the delicate lead guitar work which, while recorded poorly, is played competently. Around the mid-point of the track, the sound disintegrates, the unrestrained drums winning the battle, taking with them any semblance of controlled guitar work.

"Daisie" is a softer, dreamier piece which restores the equilibrium, while the closing track "Airam Atir" perhaps offers the best reason for the "Space rock" classification.

In all, a decent but rather anonymous debut album which does not really grab the attention sufficiently to make me want to hear more. Being hard to pin down to a genre is not a crime by any means, indeed it can be a recommendation. Being devoid of a style is a different thing though.

While the album is entirely instrumental, it does have a continuing concept about " Andy Perelman, the inhabitant of a dying, morbid city". Details of each track, and its part in the story are given on the band's Myspace web-page.

At under 40 minutes, and given the relaxed style of music here, this is more of an EP than a full album. The complete album is currently available for free download at the band's myspace page.

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