FELONA E SORONA

Produced with the woolliest sound you could possibly obtain that far from Canterbury, Felona E Sorona manages to surpass the level of excellence that Le Orme had achieved on Uomo Di Pezza. The warm sad sound of this album gripped me from the first time I heard it and has only continued to grow over the many regular listens I gave it.

In just a bit over 33 minutes and 9 unique pieces of music, Le Orme builds a strong case that prog can rock without any guitars or other harsh sounds. Instead, they do it with smooth, melodious keyboard-driven compositions. The secret sits in the solid rhythm section that sustains their dark-romantic sound. Both the drums and the bass guitar are delicious throughout. The instrumentation is kept quite sparse at times, such as in the second half of the opening track. It makes the organ and mellotron heavy outbursts all the more powerful.

Apart from the lengthy opening track, the songs are very short, but they make up a nice suite that offers plenty of variation and still makes for one fluent listening experience. There are a number of tunes that flirt with how much mellowness and sentiment I can handle on an album. It makes me regret again I haven't got to know this music earlier when I wouldn't have minded the woolly sound and could have appreciated as much as my favourite classic Prog albums.

Le Orme deliver very convincing proof that a focused 33 minutes of constant excellent quality is so much more satisfying then any 60 minute album of which only half of the material is good. Of course 33 minutes of this continuous quality are passed before you realize it. The solution to this issue? Put it on instant repeat or continue with another vintage Le Orme album. You won't be disappointed.