SNY ANIOłÓW

Birds are chirping, flutes are magically emerging throughout the "Awakening" / "Przebudzenie", and quietness preludes Emila's gifted voice to suddenly come with a burst of singing. How else could you picture the perfect arousal every morning? It just can't get better than this. Originally released in Polish to be translated afterwards in English because of the exigencies and demands from the fans and marketers, "Angels' Dreams" / "Sny Aniołów" is the second studio production by the Polish neo progressive band. Due those inconveniences surrounding the translation, only two tracks of the English release album are sung in Polish, but featured in English writing on the booklet, "Awakening (Dawn of Hope)" / "Przebudzenie (świt nadziei)" and "There is such a Lonesome House" / "Jest takis amotny dom". Curiously, those couple of songs are my favorite out of the entire record, reaffirming that in order to appreciate QUIDAM's work better, we must stick to the pure essence and vitality the band cares to transmit by listening to them in Polish (not that I discredit the effort put by Emila to sing in English, because no matter the language, she gets to enchant anyone with her fine, well educated voice), disregarding completely the language barrier and limiting ourselves to experience an incommensurable musical pleasure.

This inspirational masterpiece orchestrated by the sextet from Poland implies a complete inner journey throughout beautiful flute passages taken away by talented Jacek ZASADA along the intriguing keyboards execution leaded by the hands of Zbyszek FLOREK. Special recognition deserves the strings instrumentation performed by Maciek MELLER in "Cheerful" / "Wesoła" and in "One Small Tear" / "Łza"; both songs are irremediably exceptional, each one of them evokes the emotiveness randomly, putting us into this roller coaster that explores the edges of passion and the profundities of sorrow at the same time. The drum striking by Rafał JERMAKOW is not as surprising and unpredictable as the one he displayed on the band's debut album, but yet, it's convincing somehow because of the percussions carefully included in "Little Bird with No Legs" / "Mały beznogi ptak" and in the almost 14 minute suite "Behind my Eyes" / "Pod powieką".

Now, allow me to address this review and your kind attention to the most remarkable issue behind the production of "Angels' Dreams" / "Sny Aniołów", cellist and lead singer, Emila DERKOWSKA. She dedicated over ten years of her prolific life as a musician to the Polish band, where she got to achieve several successes. In 1997, during the CAMEL tour in Poland, Andy LATIMER invited her and Ewa Smarzyńska to perform live the opening part of "Harbour of Tears" suite. One year later, the band releases "Angels of Mine" / "Moje anioły", named after the single that turned out to be a hit which was included in the playslists of many radio stations in Poland; with the live recorded versions of "Rhayader / Rhayader Goes to Town" and "Bajkowy". So, departing from that specific context, we can indisputably agree about the similitudes between the music played by the band once named DEEP RIVER and the English masters of symphonic progressive rock.

Emila seriously committed herself to this 1998 production, firstly, because of the language inconveniences I pointed out in the paragraphs above, and secondly, because of the devotion and selfless expectations she put into the album. And this last remark is simple to perceive in songs like "Awakening (Dawn of Hope)" / "Przebudzenie (świt nadziei)" -a beautiful, almost instrumental suite were her voice takes over the enchanting sound of a sweet flute accompanied by a peaceful piano execution-, and "There is such a Lonesome House" / "Jest takis amotny dom"; -one of the most important songs of Polish rock music, originally sung by a very popular Polish band BUDKA SUFLERA; as Emila explains- both pieces chanted in Polish to give the album that special touch that communicates the unique mood and atmosphere of the roots and significance of the Polish culture. Unfortunately, Emila left the band indefinably on February 20th, 2003.

Many of you may try to satiate your curiosity by purchasing the English version instead of the Polish one just to hear how Emila sounds off in a foreign language like I did in the first place, but believe me, no matter the language, the angelical, almost operatic voice she's got, works both ways to me. The conceptuality of the album is appreciated in the bonus track (I don't know if the Polish version has got it as well), were the joyful birds from the beginning carry on chirping but this time with no compassing flute. Definitely a must for lovers of carefully crafted, innovative music, and of course, an obligated album for neo prog rockers to listen to.