Nautilus Along the Winding Road CD / 12 Tracks / 70.40 mins Play Sample:   56K Dialup   Broadband Download Sample:   500K   1.5Mb (Excerpt from track(s) 'Free Flying Spirits') Please go to the Store to buy this item.

Sometimes pigeonholing a CD as electronic music really isn't helpful. This album certainly uses electronics in abundance as we have two dedicated keyboard players but we also have two guitarists. Guitar is certainly the main feature on the opener 'Winding Road' where the most lovely acoustic guitar melody is played with feeling over tranquil pads. This is excellent stuff, with real style, getting the album off to a first rate start. Then we get onto the second track 'Free Flying Spirits' where electronics are much more to the fore with its driving rhythms, sequence and synth washes. As with the opener, guitar provides the lead as the plucked melody gently floats from the speakers. Simply gorgeous. 'Strawberry Dream' (oh Heavens, what an awful title) has a similar feel to the opener in that a beautifully played acoustic guitar takes centre stage but this is nowhere near as sweet as the title might suggest. It is just an exquisite piece of music with slight melancholy but also an undercurrent of forceful determination. 'Cycle of Life' is more in the spirit of the second track but maybe a little more inward searching. 'A Heavens Call' combines soothing guitar (both electric and acoustic) over gentle organ and is initially just as blissed out as you might expect though does swell to almost euphoric proportions in the second half. 'Running through the Storm' is much moodier, string type pads providing backing for gently strummed guitar. The sound of a storm heralds an almost raindrop type rhythm with mellotron colouring. 'Burning Head' is very different to anything else on the album as guitars completely dominate with no synth backing at all. Initially it has a slightly Spanish feel but then becomes much more strident, especially in the electric guitar department. Loved this one, had to play it three times before moving on to 'Green was the colour'. The sequences now return and really this couldn't be a greater contrast to the previous number. Pads swell and yet more pulsations come in. Things become increasingly rhythmic as we go. It's as if there is a sort of pent up angst or frustration just wanting to burst forth. The guitars only make an entrance during the last couple of minutes but are very welcome when they do. 'Improvised Requiem' has something of a French feel to it and is slightly melancholy but not quite as mournful as you might think. 'Sweet Darkness' is completely guitarless and devoid of any discernable melody but is beautiful nevertheless with soft ethereal pads soothing the soul. With a title of 'Last Rise of the Balloon' I am tempted to wonder if there is a message for us here as balloon imagery was the main feature of the artwork on their first album and indeed the music is again rather whimsical and introspective. My ponderings are heightened even more by the title of the last track 'The End, Isn't It...?' I hope the band are just playing with us here as it would be a shame if this was their last album as they just get better all the time (this album being the highlight of their output thus far). Musically the track, for most of its duration, is rather sad but there is a slight uplifting of the mood within the last couple of minutes, so you never know. It is obvious that the album is telling a story, has some sort of concept behind it, but I suppose the interpretation is down to the listener. Above all though this is a wonderful melodic instrumental album, the genre in which it is placed really isn't important. It should have wide appeal both within the Synth Music Direct customer base and a more mainstream audience. (DL)

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