Qoph - Pyrola

Home Artist links Label link

Qoph - Pyrola

Artist:	Qoph
Title:	Pyrola
Label:	Kaleidophone KALCD1
Length(s):	53 minutes
Year(s) of release:	2004
Month of review:	[08/2004]

Line up

Federico da Costa - drums
Robin Kvist - vocals
Filip Norman - guitars
Patrik Persson - bass

Tracks

1)	Woodrose	5.19
2)	Half Of Everything	6.28
3)	Korea	10.01
4)	Travel Candy	5.40
5)	Stand My Ground	6.26
6)	Moontripper	4.39
7)	Fractions	14.03

Summary

This album was recorded at the UAE Magnetophone Studios in Sweden, and features Simon Steensland.

The music

The guitars on this album are rather prominent and clear. The sound is a bit retro, with heavy sounding drums and bass. The rhythms remind of American seventies heavy rock groups such as Led Zeppelin, revived in stoner rock. Yet the vocals and some other style elements remind me of Seattle grunge. And then there is somethng that fits in with the current wave of progressive groups from Sweden and Norway. Okay, so now you probably haven't the faintest idea what this sounds like. And I'm not sure that's going to get better, but anyway.

As the album progresses the stoner overtones become stronger, and the progressive influences less, especially in Stand My Ground. Moontripper has some very heavy guitars, but the mellotron in the mid section returns the progressive feel.

The long track Korea has a longish mid section that breathes the atmosphere of live rock improvisation, including some odd and off key experimenting.

Travel Candy is an instrumental track with relaxed bass in the back, excited drums, experimenting guitar and Steensland's theramin across. A track with a feel between dreamy, spacy and jammy.

And then the final semblance: closer Fractions has the feel of one of those longer Doors tracks. Not as morbid or as vocally explicit, but the slow build up combined with Kvist's vocal timbre conjures up the image. The longish closing section featuring somewhat eastern percussion further assists in doing so.

Reading through the thank you's I noted a name that came to mind while listening to the disc's first track Woodrose: Anekdoten, if only for brief glimpses of a likeness.

Conclusion

There are a lot of ghosts from the past, some more recent than others. But they are just that: ghosts. Qoph is what is here and now, and with Pyrola they came up with quite a record. Good compositions performed in a strong and emotionally charged way. Those into the more emotionally charged Led Zeppelin or Doors oriented material should find this a treat, but so will those into more strong progressive material.