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PAIN OF SALVATION - "ROAD SALT ONE"
by George Georgiou (song292@yahoo.gr)



Staring from a wide window as far as the eye can see, marvellous things can happen.Uncovering stimmulating impressions beyond your usual predictable needs finally lead your dreamy promenade to a new, unknown, sudden purpose.Daniel Gildenlow's glance sinks into the ocean of a vivid mirror: casual old vinyl records drown his thirsty sponge ending to a multi-vintage expression elegantly decorated by the band's tricky acting."Road Salt One" leads to a daring point of view leaving behind predictions connected with the recent past.
The band's progress tears the etiquettes and uses willingly different costumes: from Beatlish alternative pop to Delta blues, from Zeppelinish eccentric hard to post classical anthems, the changes rise over and over again building up a carnival of directions BUT behind the costumes there is always the same body trying to hide or come out, to heal or be healed, to live with hypothetical substitudes or adore the loss eternally, to avoid the danger or melt in the sentiment...
The adventure of "Road Salt One" is not obvious or easy to enjoy: the certain fact of this new trip is that controversy will scream out loud and the conservative followers will laugh against Gildenlow's megalomania turning finally ears to the past...
But here we are with the precious and independent gift of our time ready to be translated into this unique musical myth. We have to wait and unlock the doors of mysteries for songs larger than life like "Sisters". We have plenty of time and original agony to argue, insist, adore, ignore, spin around, melt and rebuild, change and tear, taste, avoid and return. This is what true masterpieces are made of...

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ANATHEMA - "WE'RE HERE BECAUSE WE'RE HERE"
by George Georgiou (song292@yahoo.gr)



"Life is not the opposite of death-death is the opposite of birth-life is eternal". The journey of a young man constantly staring at his inner world while he is leaving pieces of him behind, can find a lighthouse of peace in this phrase: stillness, calmness and light at last. Anathema have a new album after seven years and they kept digging inside them while being away. Their new, most awaited and furiously discussed piece of art keeps moving into a gentle melancholic clearing of post progressive melodic rock. Their familiar emotional blow carries the spirit of a man drowning in the waves of love, willing to leave behind the head and embrace the sentiment. This last music field is in fact the flame of love at its high when it becomes extremely smug and egoistic to question, to be afraid, to stare with suspicion against the history of love through the centuries. This recent, brave, strong light filling the rooms of the album is also interpretted with gentle shyness from a person whose aristocratical view indicates that has been hurt, has bled and paid the price.
In soundscapes of new acceptances and returns to emotional starting points, in lighthouses of support like being in a family, music spreads this bright material with a healing melancholy without never in fact closing the circle. Like the traveller that sooner or later will find the door closed against his face, Anathema celebrate with bittersweet drinks.And if you allow me a couple of them, I would willingly order "A simple mistake" and "Universal" over and over again until I'm drunk of their misty skill...

live review

"Over The Rainbow" - Live In Larissa Friday 11th of June 2009



We often face a weird misty meeting with the ghosts that move between us, leaning shadows of a legendary past carrying the etiquette of an age gone by. The gentle isolated Medieval Knight in love, former tough Man-In-Black for years, gave to his son the blessing of his electric guitar, the gift of a glorious name and a company of veterans ex-Rainbow members to conquer the world once again. Watching "Over The Rainbow" playing at my hometown -where only a few bands from abroad have ever played- was for me, a typical 80's Rainbow kid growing up with their music, almost an eerie experience. The brave set list, opening their performance with epic "Tarot woman" was on the other side the strongest conclusion of that night: so many unique and important songs could drive even a bunch of typical employees to kiss golden eternity. In fact, there were many more than this in front of our eyes but the weight of the songs was floating above everything. Rainbow had raced a journey playing finally almost everything and shaping in the end parts of the general culture in the heavy sound: from classical hard rock to epic and power metal and finally to delicious pieces of cake from commercial hard pop music and all of them always first class, they had always been the perfect alibi for those who loved attractive music and quality hard rock at the same time... Joe Lynn Turner, moving between the image of his past and today's beer belly and lifting face, had the most difficult mission of all. He had to suffer with the limitless difficulties of Dio's songs and also some Bonnet's great moments but tragically had also to fight against his former self in hard pop anthems like "Street of dreams", "Can't let you go" and "I surrender"... Sometimes he was pretty good, but in parts like legendary "Stargazer" or epic "Eyes of the world" (in fact the best Dio song that Ronnie never sang...) he was hardly and slyly beaten by time... Before playing "Man on the silver mountain" they looked to the sky and raised their hands saying goodbye for the loss of a very good and special ex-Rainbow friend and everybody thought with a secret chill how it would be to watch Rainbow with Ronnie holding the microphone again... After one and a half hour of solid sound and hard rock history lessons there were no hard feelings left...Only sympathy and nostalgia drying in a hot greek summer night...

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THE NATIONAL - "HIGH VIOLET"
by George Georgiou (song292@yahoo.gr)



Five grey Brooklyn suits keep moving to wider audiences through songs that praise the naked reality of a sad person. The National have built their serious fame with the traditional climbing up the hill through great albums and numerous performances. "High Violet", number five album in line, somehow sounds like a dirty bag with wounded diamonds. The soul of barytone leader Matt Berninger stands somewhere between Stuart Staples and Paul Banks, breaths in joydivisionish anthems or bunnymen cakes to translate hopeless meanings of daily acts. The smell of ugly rain in the city could be the carpet for Matt's storytelling as a sufficient selfsarcasm parades in sketches of New York. Urban scenes of inner acceptance of failure, the poverty of reasons to be and feel a meaning for this, a false importance in acts of despair, the fear of being a parent, the stream of nothing... Five grey Brooklyn suits with the smell of smoke and alcohol have found numerous reasons to attract the restless souls of winter and help them share their emptiness. They always keep sounding indispensable to people who can't fall asleep without a little help...

live review

AND ALSO THE TREES (UK) - Acoustic Show on Friday 5th of February in Larissa

"FOUR PURPLE SHADOWS IN THE BELLY OF THE NIGHT"

Exactly one year after their first gig in Larissa, persistent travellers of mysterious tunes, legendary "And Also The Trees" from Worcestershire return as a quartet to prove on "Stage" that their acoustic experimental roaming was driven by serious artistic reasons.

Standing severe under distinctive low light, they draw an imaginary curtain uncovering the point of departure in their career, as haunted "Shantell" opens a sly purple hole in the belly of the night. "Candace" holds its ground for all those familiar with "When the rains come" until the surprising refreshing person of "The suffering of the stream" races that same old odd narration with the chilling company of dark backing vocals. The warning for "...The accordion girl" sounds like a tail of revenge for the former shortcut beside the stream, to find a suitable follower to the old macabre classic "There was a man of double deed". "Fighting in a lighthouse" for those being close to their americana trilogy, sounds now like a musical spy, determined to get familiar with the rest of their moods, echoing with a mysterious allusion. Impressions turn tender with the smooth glove of "Dialogue" like a thin carpet of innocent dust on a faded sentiment. Justin grabs the accordion for another crushing journey in time to recall the echo of "The street organ" and "Mary of the woods" finds a temporary exit of strong memories long forgotten. The restless steps of "Jacob Fleet" drove us once more to our hypothetical inner rage to race something we miss and don't know what, and nice vocal harmonies reinvented "The cyclone", an isolated almost- neoclassical diamond in the road trip of "Silver soul". Then the night had to suffer to take in a small piece the whole heart of Europe as eternal "Belief in the rose" revealed its wisdom armed with a bittersweet reflection strong enough to make everybody believe this was the serious end of something beyond description. Only the mystical heresy of "Mermen of the lea" could make a strong link of the chain and drive back to another room of "Lucy" getting now suspicious and turning tension to expectation. The familiar theme of "The untangled man" started spinning in a circle to the end of the basic part of the show. The weird steps of " Vincent Craine" and the hesitant mood of "Feeling fine" lead to the all time classic "Virus meadow" blessedly cursed to sound eerie and endless even in its new acoustic costume. The four shadows stepped down the stage, marched between the audience and left their absolute reasons sink in the tired and dizzy entrails of a long February night...

And Also The Trees (UK) @ Larissa - all info

BRINGING THE RAIN ON STAGE...

‘And Also The Trees’ enjoyed the success of their first acoustic tour promoting "When the rains come" in certain dates and special places. They finally added more dates and in the beginning of the new year they return to our city and our country to share with us this unique experiment of re-inventing some of their legendary songs into an acoustic form and opening a new view for all of their devoted followers, as they did in "When the rains come".

By recording this acoustic album in a single four day session in a barn in rural Herefordshire AATT succeeded in capturing a feeling of spontaneous vitality, from the 'live' situation and a sense of space and detail from the ancient and sparse environment.

The 14 songs selected from throughout their song writing history are performed and carefully arranged for vocal, acoustic guitar and double bass with the occasional accompaniment of dulcimer, accordion and melodica. The oldest song 'A room lives in Lucy', their indie chart hit from 1985 is fascinatingly reinterpreted and despite it's understated and somehow surreal menace, sits with surprising ease beside the title track 'When the rains come', a song which was completed just in time for the recording session.

To those familiar with the universe of AATT these captivating recordings will provide an exciting redefinition of their rich melodies and unique musical landscapes and atmospheres. To the uninitiated or those who think they know who AATT is, it will be a surprise! Despite coming from a background where John Peel, (who described them as "too English for the English") was king, and their constant spiritual benefactor Robert Smith was just emerging from the mists of the post punk scene, AATT have continued to evolve and without losing track of their creative soul they continue to confound and enchant.

Their fierce sense of independence and non conformist attitude have always made them hard to accurately categorize but the discerning listener might hear echoes of Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, Arthur Lee or Scott Walker from the past, and see parallels with Marissa Nadler, Matt Elliot, The Young Gods or David Eugene Edwards.

'When the rains come" is a fantastic opportunity to discover, or rediscover AATT.

It is a strangely moving album that will reinforce their position in the alternative world scene...

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RACHEL GRIMES: "BOOK OF LEAVES"
by George Georgiou (song292@yahoo.gr)






Louisville's pioneers Rachel's introduced a serious part of anxious audiences to the marriage between chamber music and bass, guitar based post rock. Turning back to the legendary season of "Handwriting" and "Music for Egon Schiele", heretic and daring Louisville's bandmates created a special ground where the indie listeners pleasantly discovered the ambient drama of strings arrangments and gazed through their window a new horizon willing to accept also a new serious number of follower bands. Rachel Grimes had always stood behind their unique piano, nailing her net of sensitivity on their final expressive canvas.
Today Rachel Grimes stands for the first time isolated against this same old piano, driving the echo of her own confident result. "Book Of Leaves" moves gently with careful, sensitive steps in a parallel delicate universe. Her naked themes reveal the direct strength of truth when she builds the importance of private isolated moments translated into minimalistic music pieces of limited length. Her piano leaves the allusion of a precious beauty without repeating the discovery of it in an endless stream of duration: finally you accept the comfortable need for turning back again...
In this modest frame of gentle patience, wise piano phrases and field recordings, her first solo album races the path to a storytelling and personal secrets whispering autumn.
Listeners who prefer Michael Nyman and Max Richter can follow the footprints, but after all it is Rachel Grimes and she deserves to face her in this way...

And Also The Trees (UK) @ Larissa - 5/2/2010

AATT return to Larissa - 5th of February 2010

Mysterious travelers in worlds lost in time, spread their shadows upon their past and re-invent some of their most impressive songs. Like opening hidden bottles in dusty self, strange new aromas fill our senses, figures we used to know reappear in distinctive frames...
We have all the time to isolate our favorite details, to set the vivid horizons of weird nature, to face our cursed heroes again and finally at least pray for a Friday night February rain...
Meet them at "Stage Performances Venue"on Friday 5th of February 2010.

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JENIFEREVER: "SPRING TIDES"
by George Georgiou (song292@yahoo.gr)




If there is a view that your life's hometown is important and determinant to define your expression, then Uppsala has a wonderful balance between complex accuracy and spontaneous beauty of sentiments.
Swedish "Jeniferever", faithful and persevering pioneers of live shows in helping more new acquaintances, when they finally end up in the studio, endeavor to honor this effect... Delicate shoegazing post rock band with the weight of the substance in compositions, uses from the basket of this post ambient indie rock field every useful ornament to build direct, poetic, deep discriptive songs.
"Spring Tides" is their second full length album and should honestly be heard as a steady and united chapter. Seasons come and go along with guitars caressing and exploding, figures sink in the distance and memories take their place, well kept secrets and words never said fill the empty pages and life rises to move forwards against failure. The longest part of it, called "Nagijala", nine minutes long, sounds to be somehow the heart of the album, revealing all the gifts Jeniferever can offer to the hesitating listeners who prefere delicate, atmospheric journeys with voices shaking the emotions.
In fact, it is difficult to resist to trap-lines like "if you bring the words, I 'll bring pen and paper...".

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EDITORS: "IN THIS LIGHT AND ON THIS EVENING"
by George Georgiou (song292@yahoo.gr)




A certain impressive change can be the obvious answer to the conception of the title for the Editors new album. As the title track opens building slowly, an endless mysterious horizon with this strong suspicion of an inner confession jumping from the mirror to the countless roofs of the world, you can clearly distinguish the shape and the echo of the new Editors. As "Bricks and Mortal" follows the sign and fearless synth lines slide on a metronomic beat, you grab the reality that the absence of guitars was not just a matter of an opening track: the electrosynth skeleton of new album's dramas comes only to change the preconceptions about Editors from Interpol and Joy Division to Depeche Mode and New Order... (if i was obliged i would probably say...Tuxedomoon). Famous producer Flood appears to have a serious part of the sound's turn, although the band had declared the mood to move into explorative and experimental electrosynth paths even a few months after the release of "An end has a start". There is an important guide for those who feel insecure in front of this surprise: Tom Smith's faithful performance holds the link between the present and the past and carries their identity feeding their new material with his epic skill. It is rather unfair for a band avoiding so honestly fillers to live always with such kinds of preconceptions especially in our predictable days of repeating echoes. "In this light and on this evening" is an urban synth album with the dark corners of the city feeding the imagination. Sometimes impressions lurk, sometimes emotions fade, but we have always first class mystery and drama in direct and catchy tunes. Change can be elegant, wisely balanced and keep the right room for Curtis' subtle distant cousin...