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MORNING LIGHTS
Tracklist:
Song of Winds (3:38)
Morning Lights (21:33)
Ripples (12:16)
Vivaldish (5:39)
Forest Bird's Fantasy (5:00)
LINEUP
Gil Stein - keyboards, vocals, recorders, guitars
Gabriel Weissman - drums
Roy Bar-Tour - bass
REVIEW
Trespass are a three piece band hailing from Israel who originally formed in 1999, releasing their debut album "In Haze of Time" through Musea Records in 2002.
Their music has been acclaimed as being reminiscent of seventies acts like ELP and The Nice, but to be honest it more often reminds me of some of the less well remembered bands of the era such as Fruup or Gryphon.
Their new album "Morning Light" is predominantly, but not exclusively, an instrumental work, once again neatly combining classical themes with a modern progressive style. The music and musicianship is of good
quality, and the band cannot be faulted for their upbeat and lively playing. The one downside is that the vocals are a little on the week side at times, yet even here the band do not displease.
The album opens with a fairly short track "Song of Winds", which quickly established itself as my favourite piece on the album.
The track gets underway with a theme played out on the recorder that is quickly taken up and embellished upon by the modern day instruments. The music then goes on to explore a series of variations on the theme in a manner that is most pleasing to the ear. The overall feel of this piece is very baroque, (anybody remember 'Switched on Bach'?) and it is played with a buoyant enthusiasm that is remarkably uplifting. The decision to use voices as a musical accompaniment at some points during the number also works very well and adds strength and tone.
The title track "Morning Lights" is the major work on the album with a run time of nearly 22 minutes.
The track exposes some of the bands major strengths and weaknesses, but in the final analysis does manage to leave a very positive impression.
The initial opening I confess is not at all to my liking, and I cannot quite figure out quite what is happening.
It sounds as if there is a recorder track (in similar style to the preceding piece) but with another track played over the top of it backwards! Very Avant Garde I'm sure, but why? I really thought there was something wrong with my CD player to start with (and maybe for all I know there still is). Thankfully after getting passed the first minute things pick up and we are led into another quasi classical piece played out with church organ sound and very reminiscent of Bach. The band do well to weave a number of variations on this original theme and even manage to add some nice light jazz touches before we get to the start of the vocal section. At this moment the nature of the track changes somewhat, gone are the classical overtones, and in comes the more overblown pomp rock sound. This works well enough, but would be so much better if the band had a stronger vocalist to really carry it off. The last minute of the track is pretty much the same as the opening, and I have to be honest after the first run through I have since skipped over it altogether. Enough said! Taken as a whole there is a lot of variety here, and, though I found it a touch on the long side, when it works well it works supremely well.
"Ripples" is a mid length piece coming in at a far more manageable 12 minutes.
This is another lively number benefiting from the strong use of keyboards, which at times are very reminiscent of Jon Lord, and a powerful rhythm section. The vocals too come across well and seem to be better suited to the softer setting creating which paradoxically makes for a far stronger number.
"Vivaldish" as its name might suggest is influenced by the Italian composer Anton Vivaldi, and is in fact based on his Violin Concerto in A minor.
Like the opening track, this is a very upbeat piece that shows the band to good effect.
The final track is "Forest Birds' Fantasy", which is slightly quirkier in nature than what has come before.
The music has a slightly disconcerting edge to it at times, think of spooky fairground music, and does not flow quite as freely, but it is nevertheless quite appealing and has a charm of it's own. The use of birdsong within the music took a bit of getting used to, but it grew on me after several hearings.
Whether by accident or design what Trespass have achieved here is a worthy homage to the progressive rock scene of the seventies, and, while this album is not without it's faults, it is a nevertheless a splendid
fusion of classical and progressive rock sounds that rarely fails to please. Definitely worth checking out!
Simon September 17th 2996
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