SECOND ALBUM

The music of CURVED AIR Second album could be described as poppy psychedelia with some darkish, almost industrial (krautrock?) atmosphere, folksy bits and occasional prog. I mean 1971 prog. The music is often based around a simple, hypnotic, either mellow or chromatic pattern on violin or electric piano. It's stripped down to the bones without much ornaments. It's not shallow, but it's hollow.

CURVED AIR is full of air indeed. Their songs are certainly not dense or greasy; if there's anything to be appreciated it's structure and melody, but in my opinion the album lack in both (at least good ones), and that's why it fails to amuse me. I don't mind raw music, and there are some good moments, but in general, it's nothing special.

That's the biggest sin of this album: it's nothing special. Why? Well, look at my first sentence. Pay attention to the difficult-to-pin-down style. Their style was quite unique: what a pity they didn't manage to develop it further - such an eclectic mix of styles could be a goldmine for exceptional songs and an album to remember. Ironically, it's NOT lost in dozen directions, actually it's quite focused. Just..the songs are nothing to die for. It's difficult to describe why, but here's a tiny example: noodlings. It contains synth noodlings, but don't except Close To The Edge here; it's like giving a VCS3 synthesizer to VELVET UNDERGROUND. Not a bad idea, but...not what I consider a full-blown progressive rock act. However, it's a decent record and worth a spin. Highlights are performed on violin and electric piano, and Sonja's vocals could be quite enjoyable too.