FONTANA BELLA

One year ago I heard the name of Austin TV in several radio stations, or announcements or even within my group of friends, but I actually was never interested because I thought they were just another rock-pop band from my country. Then, a couple of my Mexican prog friends (PA members) mentioned this band was good and that I had something to do with post rock, so then I decided to give them a spin, and I was surprised, they are great!

Don't really know the band's first steps, so this time I cannot give you a career background, so let´s focus on the review of this album called "Fontana Bella", released in 2007 and probably their most acclaimed one inside the Mexican industry, featuring 9 tracks and a total time of 53 minutes approx.

The album kicks off with "Ana, No te Fallé", the first 10 seconds are some kind of nervous noises, besides some spoken word (during this album we will listen to spoken words in some songs), then some seconds later the guitars enter and the post rock feeling immediately comes to you, a soft and calm song which at the same time is catchy and charming, though a couple of minutes later it becomes a little bit heavier, reminding me to 65daysofstatic, very nice opening track.

"Voces Iluminadas por Sonrientes" starts with guitars playing at the same time and with a heavier feeling, meanwhile there is a synth making some noises, and then little by little the song is progressing and building up a nice structure, nice one, but not their best.

The next song is called "Marduk" and it is one of their best without a doubt, it leaves a mark on you since the first listen so you cannot skip it, it starts with a mellow feeling, with some simple guitar chords and a nice synth sound, then the song begins to progress, it makes a short stop but just in order to let the music explode, in moments they play heavily and gives a sense of power, then this track has again spoken words, and I like it a lot due to it's mood changes, in little time they can provoke different things.

"El Secreto de las Luciérnagas" starts really powerful, like 65daysofstatic meets Oceansize, with the addition of those very cool synth effects. Minutes later, the song slows down, and that sense of power becomes peace, the background sounds are very well done, though those peace times it's over after a few seconds where the song becomes to the mood as it began, so it is like a give and take.

"Nadie está aquí, no hay nadie, nada hay aquí" it's an excellent example of the progressiveness a post rock band has, excellent song that starts slow but with a very interesting mood, I love the drumming and the fat bass sound that interplays with the soft piano notes. Then the song is becoming a bit faster and with an excellent atmosphere, I love how they manage to change the mood in just a few seconds, this is without a doubt one of their best songs.

"Flores Sobre las Piedras" begins with beautiful and at the same time sad piano notes along with spoken words, then, strong bass and drumming appear while the piano continues, two minutes later the music is completely different with the help of their synth, making some nervous sounds. But again, it slows down to that sad mood, and yes, you guess it, then the mood changes again, pretty good track.

"Shiva", the guitars at the very beginning remind me to that bad band called TMV, fortunately it was only for the first seconds, then the music returns to Austin TV style and it is like a mix of all the previous songs, I mean, fast ? powerful, slow ? sad, changes, guitar driven song helped with nice synth effects. With the addition of some nice bass lines and some claps noises.

"Mientras las Hojas Caen" starts with some spacey effects, and then the drummer appears just before guitars enter, this song reminds me to Tristeza which is another great post rock band, and actually the music here is not that different to the previous ones, nice.

The album ends with an excellent track called "Voló al Cielo", which lasts almost 14 minutes, but actually the song itself ends before reaching minute 5, the music is very relaxing, with some night noises as background, the wind, a certain calm along with some crickets sound. Then they add some kind of orchestral sounds which help the song create a new agey mood in some moments, I love this song because after the powerful passages the album offers, it ends with this melody full of peace and joy. So as I mentioned, the song ends before minute 5, and the rest of the time you will only listen the sound of an average night before you sleep, crickets, wind, etc, so you can go to bed when you finish this album.

I like it a lot, as I pointed out in my introduction paragraph, this album surprised me a lot and it was a very pleasant surprise, so my final grade is 4 stars.

Enjoy it!

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