ALSO EDEN - IT'S KIND OF YOU TO ASK - 2008

Quite interesting obscure band from the United Kingdom. Also Eden produced an album that sounds deceptively simple and even sometimes popish at first listen. But the overall length of some tracks (10 to 12 minutes) betrays its complexity and abundance of details when you hear it with atention. Ok, this is not your average symphonic group, although it does have some strong influences (early Genesis and Pink Floyd are the most evident). It seems to be conceptual album about loneliness.

The instrumental breaks with some fine guitar and keyboards interplays are the highlights. I also liked the emotional and sincere vocals, Huw does not have a particular strong voice but he very convincing and poignant in his delivering.The lyrics are good and certainly the CD has no fillers. The album flows very evenly. But the true gems are the last two tracks, A Widows Eyes and Photographs, both great epics where the band uses their full potential both as songwriters and players. I liked their balance between the simple and the elaborated.

In the end I found Kind Of You To Ask to be a nice surprise and Also Eden a truly promising band. If they keep working on their strong points they can be very big. My rating is somewhere between 3,5 to 4 stars that I´ll round up to full four because their tasteful and rich sound lift up my spirits today.
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