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Review:
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Occasionally a band comes from out of nowhere and surprises
you. Birmingham is not "nowhere" but who the hell are IO
Earth? Is it "IO Earth" even, or "IOEarth" or even "I/O
Earth"? Well, a quick shufty at their website provides some
of the answers. The core behind IOEarth are Dave Cureton
and Adam Gough who have known each other since they were
at school together. Which must be a few years back. Well,
in the 90s anyway. A couple of years ago, they began to
get their musical ideas into shape, and that shape evolved
into their debut album. Which is either untitled, or eponymously
named. Your call.***
So this is their debut album, and it's no shrinking
violet. Some people go on about this or that album being
"an album and a half". Well this is, quite literally that,
in that it consists of three "movements" (stop sniggering
at the back), namely Water, Earth and Air, and it's more
on a par with a classical release, rather than your common
or garden progressive rock album.***
The first movement, Water, is split into seven parts,
starting with the piano based Introduction, overlaid with
the dreamy vocals of Louise Brabbins. This slips into the
jaunty instrumental Storyteller, with the guitars and keyboards
fighting for your attention. The urgent EEEE follows on.
I'm not sure who sings this peice, but it must be one of
Dave or Adam. Very impressively too. Interlude #1 does exactly
what it says on the tin before moving aside to let the excellent
Smokey Wood in. Again, Louise Brabbins lends her vocals
while Steve Trigg add a touch of flugel horn to make it
a very distinctive track. Come With Me, features the vocal
talents of Steve Balsamo, who has worked with The Storys
and ChimpanA (as well as starring in Jesus Christ Superstar
in the West End) and starts off with sampled storm effects,
over a keyboard soundscape. Listening to this track, it's
obvious to see why Steve's vocals are in such demand. Opus
II closes this section, a simple track with guitar over
keyboard textures, while drummer Richard Cureton keeps a
simple beat.***
Mountains Start To Fall opens Movement two, Earth with
Claire Malin taking over the female vocal role, and sees
the band moving into the symphonic prog area. But it's a
brief excursion, because the following song Loops veers
more towards jazz-prog, with its bass line from Christian
Nokes amd more flugel horn. Next comes, for me, the only
downside to the album in the first half of Symphony #1,
which just sounds like a bad 1950s Disney nightmare soundtrack.
However, it's only a small abberation, and they're soon
back on track with the guitar heavy Light And Shade. Intro
Reprise gives everyone a bit of a breather before Home sparkles
into life, with vocals again by Claire Malin. This section
is brought to an end with the massive Creation, Eastern
tinged sampled speech and chants vieing with some serious
guitar freakery.***
Air kicks off with the tribally influenced Sun Is Going
Down, and that theme is continued through the brief Interlude
#2 into Harmonix, another beautifully arranged track. The
next track, Take Me, is possibly the only stand-alone "song"
on the album. Excellent all round playing on this anthemic
track, and another fine vocal performance from Mr Balsamo.
In fact it;s so good, we played it on Proggy Style 72 last
week. A downbeat reprise of Come With Me leads into the
closing track Outro, an instrumental recap.***
(Charlie
O'Mara) From "Silhobbit.com"
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