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  | DJAM KARET ~ SONIC CELLULOID
HC PRODUCTIONS 019 (Barcode: 747014626825) ~ USA ~ Progressive Rock
Recorded: 2016 Released: 2017
This is the eighteenth album by American Prog group Djam KaretFind albums by this artist, founded in 1984, which still manages to produce meaningful music within the genre that is mostly obsolete today, following the second phase of its existence. The lineup on this album features all four founding members of the group: guitarist / keyboardist Gayle EllettFind albums by this artist (who plays on all tracks), guitarist Mike HendersonFind albums by this artist (who plays only on a couple of tracks), bassist Henry J. OsborneFind albums by this artist (who plays on six tracks) and drummer Chuck Oken, Jr.Find albums by this artist (who plays on all tracks). Guitarist Mike MurrayFind albums by this artist and bassist Aaron KenyonFind albums by this artist play on selected tracks. The album presents ten relatively short pieces (surely by Prog standards), all co-credit to the entire group.
The music, as the title suggests, is more ambient oriented than the standard Prog ventures, following the quite popular concept of "soundtrack to an imaginary movie", which deals more with "impressionist sound painting" than with actual melody, harmony and rhythm approach, which appears here only occasionally. Not being committed to the usual conceptual limitations of Prog, the music can be interpreted quite freely, depending largely on the listener´s state of mind and his imagination.
There is enough diversity in this music to keep the listener interested and anticipating the next move, assuming the listener is a priori open to ambient music, which develops slowly and lacks catchy hooks, which most Prog listeners are expecting, being totally addicted to them. On the other hand it seems that after thirty-three years of playing and recording music, the group is showing early signs of lassitude, at least in comparison to their early days. One might wonder if this might be the final opus.
Overall this is definitely an album worth investigating, especially for ambient Prog lovers, which offers a musical journey of imagination. Fans expecting fiery endless guitar solos and other Prog nonsense will be disappointed.
| | Updated: 17/07/2017Posted: 17/07/2017 | CD 1 Digipak Recommend To A Friend |
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