Release Date: 1st
Jan 2104
Label: Rock Slack Music
This is the first time I have been sent an album to
review and found myself struggling a little with the band name, OVRFWRD, but at
least I don’t have to pronounce it to review them. It also tends to catch the
attention on the cover of the album. The album is Beyond The Visible Light and is the debut album from the band that
was formed in 2012.
OVRFWRD is a four piece instrumental/art rock band that
has stated their influences as Pink Floyd, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Iron Maiden.
Rush, Yes, Joni Mitchell and Django Reinhardt among others, so they have a very
diverse set of influences. The band comprises, Rikki Davenport (drums,
percussion), Kyle Lund (bass), Mark Ilang (guitars) and Chris Malmgren
(keyboards), and the band came about literally by chance. Rikki and Mark had
talked about an instrumental band, while part of another band, and when their
vocalist failed to turn up at a recording, the die was cast. With Kyle and
Chris, the band recorded a track and have now completed and released the full
album.
Beyond
The Visible Light is a 5 track album which has a total playing
time of around 47 minutes. None of the tracks really fall into the “short”
category, although “Can We Keep The Elephant” is the shortest track on offer at
8:03 minutes with the longest track, “Raviji” clocking in at 11:18 minutes.
As an opening track, “Can We Keep The Elephant” (8:03),
is instantly memorable, simply for the title alone. The band are off and
running very quickly at the start of this track and into an interesting passage
with keyboards leading into a strumming guitar. All of this is underpinned by
an extremely solid rhythm unit provided by Rikki and Kyle. Mark shows that he
is an excellent guitarist and those terrific keyboards from Chris are always
there or thereabouts. A couple of minutes into the track and the tempo drops to
strummed guitar on its own, before the other 3 group members rejoin
proceedings, maintaining the slow gentle melodic nature of the track, which
then morphs into a neat jagged guitar riff backed by some insistent keyboards. This bit of interplay
between guitar and keyboards continues to carry the track onwards and returns
to the original starting theme which takes the track out. This is a good solid
start to the album, with enough light and dark to help maintain the interest of
the listener.
“Stones of Temperance” (8:49) has the guitar riffs
interplaying with a superb piano passage, before a tempo change introduces a
stunning acoustic guitar section. “The Man with No Shoes” (10:48) has a similar
configuration of guitar/piano which moves into synths and a more jagged guitar
playing area, allowing Mark to show his skills further, especially on those
slower sections. The final track, “Dark Star” (8:56) has a simple guitar
keyboard passage introduction which slowly builds and the tempo switches up a
gear. The keyboards become replaced by that superb piano before the guitar gets
a bit looser and drives the track along with the rest of the band contributing
to the gradual increase in build-up to see the track make its exit.
“Raviji” (11:18), the longest track on Beyond The Visible Light, and the first
track that the band recorded, is a slow burner at the start, with a “little bit
more grunt” as it hits the 4 minute mark, with superb guitar/keyboard
interaction before a stripping away of everything leaves a solitary piano and a
passage which is simply sublime. A gentle acoustic guitar joins the piano to
keep things moving along until the rhythm engine sneaks in to add a little more
“oomph.” Bits of slightly distorted
guitar appear, but I didn’t feel that they added anything to the track, indeed
they seemed to detract a little from what was going on. A sudden tempo change
is an indication that the track is close to finishing and it goes out with more
piano.
Beyond
The Visible Light is a good debut album which has passages
that grab the listener and there is no doubt that there are four very able
musicians on show. My only concern, and regular readers of my reviews will be
aware of this, is that to fully engage a listener over the course of an album,
an instrumental album needs something unique to grab that attention. Although I
enjoyed all 5 tracks, I did tend to find that my attention either drifted or
looked for a vocalist to vary what was happening at times, and while I will
definitely dip into the album again and again, it isn’t an album I would put on
and listen from start to finish.
4/5 Stars
Key
Tracks: Can We Keep The Elephant, Raviji, Darkest Star
February 9, 2014
Tracks:
Can We Keep The Elephant
Stones Of Temperance
Raviji
The Man With No Shoes
Darkest Star
Tracks:
Can We Keep The Elephant
Stones Of Temperance
Raviji
The Man With No Shoes
Darkest Star
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