Record Reviews

LUMINARE ~ LUMINARE LYNX 236 (Barcode: 5904653776303) ~ POLAND ~ Progressive Rock Recorded: 2024 Released: 2024 This is the debut album by Polish vocalist / keyboardist / songwriter Martyna WegrzynFind albums by this artist, released under the moniker LuminareFind albums by this artist. She is accompanied by several musicians, including guitarist Wojciech CzyrnekFind albums by this artist, bassists Ignacy TrybonFind albums by this artist and Pawel MatuszekFind albums by this artist, drummer Jakub BerlinFind albums by this artist, violinist Malgorzata GolebiowskaFind albums by this artist and French Horn player Jan ZurekFind albums by this artist. The album presents thirteen tracks all composed by Wegrzyn and featuring her lyrics. The music is typical Neo-Prog / Art Rock, deeply rooted in the Polish 1990s Prog tradition, which combines Progressive Rock with specific Polish Folkloristic tendencies, Slavic melancholy and lyricism. Naturally it is very difficult to be very innovative or inventive within such well-established environment, nevertheless Wegrzyn manages to put together a string of excellent compositions, encrusted by first-rate arrangements and played wonderfully by the superb team, which results in a well pleasing album, which offers a nice listening experience. The lyrics are sadly lost to non-Polish speakers, as usual in such case, but Wegrzyn wisely chose to stick to her Mother tongue, rather than falling into the trap of singing in English, which sadly murders most Polish Prog albums. Her vocal abilities are somewhat limited as far as her range is concerned, but she compensates this limitation by highly emotional / expressive delivery, which fits the dramatic music perfectly. The excellent instrumental parts fill the rest of the album with a solid serving of Prog nostalgia. Overall, this is a very promising debut album, which hopefully is just a first glace of Wegrzyn’s many talents, to be followed by more ambitious projects of this kind. Since the Polish Prog scene is suffering from serious identity crisis and plain repetitious boredom, with just a few exceptions, it’s good to hear a breath of “fresh air”, if not stylistically, at least offering new, original vistas of the tradition. Well done, young Lady!

Updated: 22/06/2024Posted: 22/06/2024

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