D'VIRGILIO, MORSE & JENNINGS: SOPHOMORE

The dream team of vocalists (but also terrific multi-instrumentalists) continues their venture with this rather too obviously titled Sophomore release. Nick D'Virgilio and Neal Morse, coming from Spock's Beard, and Ross Jennings, from Haken avoid carefully both the Symphonic and the Metallic flourishes associated with their aforementioned origins, in order to go straight to the melodic core of these folk-tinged compositions, fleshed out in acoustic guitars, vintage synths sounds, fresh retro-sounding percussion throwing back to the golden hippy era, and, last but not least, the crystallyne purity of their voices, evoking the emotional magic of Crosby, Stills & Nash, but with Styx and Kansas oriented overtones, for good measure. And maybe it's that so precise as lovable universe of sonic references what places this record right beside the shortly before released Spooky Action At A Distance, by Pattern-Seeking Animals (at least in my ears and mind).

And it's not the case that these extraordinarily gifted musicians keep always the same tone, because you will find, for example, in track 2, Linger at the Edge of My Memory (great title for a great tune!) a more vaporously elusive atmosphere than in the rest of the album, as well as a harder rocking edge and dense Hammond layering emerges distinctly in track 6, Mama. Nevertheless, one can hear even here a nod to the Rock'n'Roll Man persona of Stephen Stills steaming up in the upper psychedellic register of his tasty blues-rock workouts of yore. And preventing the whole thing from becoming too serious, we also have high-pitched vocal harmonies pointing towards the more ingenuously simple direction of another vocal trio, called America, in track 8, Weighs Me Down (some may even accuse the early Bee Gees, let them talk).

In short, I can hardly imagine a prog-hearted rock fan (or a rock-hearted prog fan?) disliking any of these primorously crafted vignettes of an era that shines here so loaded with splendid ideals and inapprehensible longing one has to look away to be able to finally grasp it with a last glance.