Vish Iyer\u2019s review<\/a>. Their sophomore release arrived last week via PledgeMusic, once again beautifully designed and packaged. Beyond its rather unimaginative\u2014if precise\u2014title, II<\/i> makes a strong case for Perfect Beings as one of the top acts among prog\u2019s next wave. <\/p>\nThe essence of Perfect Beings\u2019s appeal to this prog fan is the confidence with which they combine classic prog influences with unexpected twists and turns, achieving a sound that manages to be both familiar and imaginative, comfortable and dynamic. Opener \u201cMar Del Fuego\u201d offers a strong example of this right off the bat as its urgent opening section intersperses an aggressive, athletic jam reminiscent of \u201cClose To The Edge\u201d-era Yes with flamboyant flamenco strums and castanets. Two minutes in and it\u2019s already clear you\u2019re in the hands of bravura songwriters and performers. (It\u2019s fitting too that the opener to an album dedicated to Chris Squire features especially bold, aggressive bass work from Tristram.) At 2:40, the song falls back to a little flute-bass-guitar interlude before Hurtgen enters for a single, breathy verse and we circle back around to the opening theme.<\/p>\n
One after another, classic prog elements appear within freshly imagined environments. \u201cCyrogenia\u201d brings the sci-fi\u2014and electric harpsichord, courtesy of Nason\u2014for a spooky, atmospheric tune about the emotional consequences of waking from a thousand-year cyrogenic sleep. Luley\u2019s keening, woozy guitar solo gives the last third of the song a distinctly Floyd-ian feel, which continues into the brief, brooding instrumental \u201cSamsara.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Love Inside\u201d is as close as II <\/i>comes to a prog epic, a limber, chameleonic nine-minute mini-suite that ranges from rippling piano and bells to nimble, Steve Howe-influenced riffing, to a ferocious middle section that careens up to the edge of control without ever losing it, guitar and keyboards volleying back and forth.<\/p>\n
What really sets Perfect Beings apart from the crowd is its sense of adventure, veering from heavy moments like the dark, aggressive opening of the aptly named \u201cVolcanic Streams\u201d to the distinctly jazzy feel of the second half of \u201cThe Yard,\u201d featuring a guitar solo that wouldn\u2019t be out of place on a Wes Montgomery album. Then \u201cGo\u201d time-hops the group into the Big \u201980s, dabbling in airy Euro-rock before swerving into a deranged, nearly atonal guitar solo, after which Hurtgen enigmatically declares \u201cI want to know you like you were before.\u201d <\/p>\n
Indeed, the lyrics seem influenced by Jon Anderson\u2019s early-Yes sound painting approach, more impressionistic than linear; they have an air of mystery about them that suits the band nicely. The lyric sheet illustrates this subtly, treating the streams of words as decorative graphic elements.<\/p>\n
The album\u2019s final third is equally cinemascope in tone. \u201cRivermaker\u201d showcases Hurtgen\u2019s elastic, jazz-influenced vocals and mysterious lyrics (\u201cI want to be a rivermaker \/ So shining on the shore \/ I want to move tectonic plates \/ A whisper over this divide so great\u201d) in front of a rangy, shape-shifting arrangement. \u201cCause And Effect\u201d starts out airy and melodic before throwing a fit, with Fliszar\u2019s crashing drums, Luley\u2019s wild guitar figures and Tristram\u2019s hyperactive bass battling to a thunderous draw, leading into a pleasantly soaring final section. Album closer \u201cThe Thrill Seeker\u201d belies its name with a silky-smooth feel and smoky, crooning vocals from Hurtgen offering an almost plaintive finish to an otherwise energetic album. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The best progressive rock achieves a kind of musical ecstasy by mixing and matching elements of different genres. Big Big Train<\/a>, for example, brings in elements of folk and traditional British music along with symphonic and classic British prog-rock. Perfect Beings does something similar in the way they meld the traditional soft-hard dynamics of prog with symphonic, jazz and airy \u201980s rock influences. None of this ever feels like imitation or even homage, though; their ambitious combination of disparate elements not just within songs, but within movements of songs, delivers tracks that are a sonic jambalaya of styles, stitched together by the group\u2019s instinctive feel for melody and tremendous instrumental chops. <\/p>\nBeyond all the above blabber, here\u2019s the clincher: I\u2019ve listened to this album all the way through six or seven times over the past ten days and not only am I not tired of it, I continue to find myself discovering new flourishes and intricacies with every new listen. On II<\/i>, Perfect Beings conjures up the perfect combination of classic prog influences and present-day imagination. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":32535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9473],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-44298","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-perfect-beings","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44298"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}