By Artur Chachlowski
(Please note that this review has been translated using an online translator)
The British group IO Earth, and of the two albums – “IO Earth” (2009) and “Moments” (2012) a lot of (good) recently read and heard, but until recently I had the opportunity to listen to the music. About a month ago, I fell into the hands of both publishers and admit that the good prevailed in my home player and leaving it only for brief moments.
IO Earth is actually two people who know and play together on the school benches Dave Cureton and Adam Gough. Though to say that this duo IO Earth, this is not true. Maybe it was so even in the case of the first album on which both men played virtually all the instruments, inviting only vocalists (including Steve Balsamo known side project of Rob Reed, Chimpan A). Even then, the most vocal was responsible Ms Claire Malin, and now it is no longer a member of the official composition of the IO Earth (as Richard Cureton – Dr. Christian Nokes – bg and Luke Shingler – fl, sax).
And thanks to “Moments” is a record of the plate more vocal debut 3 years ago. That reminds soundtrack album. For once it should be noted that the music is very IO Earth film. In this respect, a bit like our Lebowski, but the stylistic spectrum of British music is much wider. Sometimes they sound like Pendragon and Camel, sometimes as Archive, and sometimes as … Enigma, or even Bregovic. But I do not think that this gives a stylistic spread indigestible concoction. On the contrary, it all fits together perfectly, and the ability to connect to the unity of intelligent seemingly distant species such as rock, jazz, club music, Gregorian chants, near-and far eastern influences, symphonic rock, world music and classical music shows only extremely talented Mr Cureton and Gough.
What’s more, with this seemingly impossible to reconcile the “water of fire” (incidentally, the program’s first album IO Earth was divided into three “disasters” section: Water Earth, Air) music was almost unbelievable level of affordability. “Moments” is a stunning 66 minutes of music, which consists of 9 tracks. Addictive, mesmerizing, shocking her with the beauty and the enormous “power of destruction”. As a result, whenever the board comes to an end, instinctively want to press the button repeatedly, and then listen to these fascinating sounds. It makes no sense to describe each song one by one, because music is music in terms of an integrated whole, the most listened to from beginning to end. The best parts of the album? With just cited because it is difficult to distinguish any of the tracks. In each lurks a fascinating mystery and everyone seemingly diametrically different from the next, it has a hidden magic. From the standpoint of prog rock’s most sympathizer please can two song “Live Your Life”, the only instrumental on the album – “Brothers” and the two final songs, “Finest Hour” and the epic “Turn Away” (both featuring ‘participation “… Winston Churchill, and the other with the main vocal line sung FOR IN Dave Cureton, not by Claire Malin).
“Moments” is a very enjoyable album. Production? Crystal clear. Execution? Flawless. Ideas? Diverse and unusual. The compositions? Varied and (without exception) very interesting. Arrangements? Finesse. Artistic impression? Huge. Overall rating? Definitely above average.