GRIMALKIN - THE DRIFTING SAILER - 1996

One more contestant in the "nouveau-prog" arena, these musicians from Naples cook up an ultra-modern stew of intricate symphonic sounds flavoured with a diverse pallette of spacy yet measured contrasts. As the whimsically misspelled title suggests, there is a sense of "drift" with galloping Hackett-influenced guitar breaks, a bevy of synth gurgles, hints of clarinet and the odd saxual intervention. (No, I didn't mispell sex). The other musicians seem to have the uncanny foresight to intervene judiciously and propel the material into overdrive when needed, while staying nicely mute at others, giving this CD a feeling of expanse and nuance. Nevertheless, the real strength of Grimalkin lies in the structure of the songs , the onus focused on building up patiently the pieces in order to apply emphasis on the contrasts therein and, suddenly exploding into well-calculated crescendos of immaculate beauty. Very modern, very intriguing , very left-field. Listen to it a dozen times or so and it will bloom like a flower. One shot wonder from 1996 and then, they drifted into silence ...... Pity. 4 floating tars
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