REMEDIES

Great atmospheric rock from Norway with a lot of the mellower PINK FLOYD and PINEAPPLE THIEF feel to it. Comparisons to MIDLAKE and AUTUMN CHORUS are also warranted.

1. "Going Somewhere" (8:13) strummed folk-rock acoustic guitar opens before vocal and second electric guitar join in. Synths and other keys join in at 1:20 as singing stops. Nice effect. The next verse opens up feeling quite light and indie-pop bouncy--not unlike MEW. When the chorus finally hits at the three minute mark the keys rejoin in full force giving the aural palette a bit of a muddy feel. Luckily, the lyric and other instruments remain clear and distinctive so it must just be the keys. The long instrumental mid-section is interesting for the fact that it's really the whole band exploring an extended variation of chord progressions. The effected piano ending is a cool effect. A nice extended indie-pop song. (8.5/10)

2. "The Boy And The Snow" (11:32) gorgeous and relaxing, dreamy, maybe even trance-inducing like a spacey PINK FLOYD song ("Us and Them" comes to mind--though this song is nothing like it). A wonderful aural-induced experience. Even the Post Rock-like build up in the tenth minute is magical. (9/10)

3. "Audion" (2:07) solo church organ practice. (4/5)

4. "Sleepers" (13:35) repeating solo guitar arpeggio is sung over in a high, gentle voice before electric piano joins in. This opne reminds me a lot of the title song from MIDLAKE's last release, Antiphon. "Flute" and bass enter in the third minute's interlude between verses. Cool Richard Wright-like synth solo in the fifth minute. A shift in the music at the end of the fifth minute lets bass and drums take the fore in a kind of OMD "Julia's Song" way as gentle, spacious chords and arpeggi from electric piano and guitar, respectively, play behind. Cool solo in the seventh minute--either from keyboard or heavily treated guitar (I'm betting on the latter). This gets extended while band jams and spacey keyboard sounds enter and "solo" as well. By the end of the ninth minute it's really thick--just as everything cuts out for a few seconds. Bass and lite drums re-establish their groove while APP-like guitars and synths gently fill the spacious foreground until 9:50 when everything cuts out again. Emerging from the back a heavier, more insistent Post Rock-like weave re-enters with the drums and lead guitars playing much more aggressively that before. Then there is yet another cut out at 11:07, which is eventually filled by some industrial sounding synth loop. Slight electronic variations and plays with volume are explored in subtle ways from here to the song's end. Easily the best song on the album. (9.5/10)

5. "Nothing Like Home" (6:43) plays out as a kind of quiet straightforward prog folk song with gentle, reverbed ROBBIE LLOYD-WILSON (AUTUMN CHORUS) or MIDLAKE-like vocal with little flash though plenty of subtleties along the way. Nice JAMES-BLAKE-like effects used on the vocals. Solid. (8.5/10)

4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of beautiful Folk- and Post Rock-tinged progressive rock music.