Virta "Hurmos"

Country: Finland
Genre(s): Instrumental Post Rock, Jazz
Label: Svart Records
Format: CD, vinyl
Release date: December 2, 2016
Tracklist: 
1. Aallot
2. About to Fly
3. Time Travel
4. Härmä
5. The Landing
6. Uni
7. On the Run​

Line-up: 
Antti Hevosmaa: trumpet, vocals, electronics
Heikki Selamo: guitar, vocals, electronics
Erik Fräki: drums, percussion, electronics

Description/Reviews: 

...an all-instrumental affair of seven electro-acoustic compositions ... merging the stark, melancholy nature of post-rock with the freewheeling experimentation of jazz. "About to Fly" kind of sums up this odd blending of styles perfectly... The arrangements aren't overly busy like typical jazz, but it's also not as bleak as you can usually expect from post-rock, but somewhere in between.

Read the full review by Pete Pardo at seaoftranquility.org

Media/Samples 
About to Fly
Time Travel
On the Run

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Anekdoten "Until All The Ghosts Are Gone"

Country: Sweden
Genre(s): Progressive Rock
Label: Virta (EU, NA), Disk Union (Japan)
Format: CD, vinyl, digital
Release date: April 10, 2015
Tracklist: 

1. Shooting Star - 10:10
2. Get Out Alive - 07:32
3. If It All Comes Down To You - 05:52
4. Writing On The Wall - 09:03
5. Until All The Ghosts Are Gone - 05:07
6. Our Days Are Numbered - 08:36

Line-up: 
Nicklas Barker: vocals, guitar, Mellotron, keyboards
Ann Sofi Dahlberg: Mellotron, keyboards
Jan Erik Liljestrom: bass
Peter Nordins: drum, percussion
   With
Per Wiberg (ex-Opeth): organ
Theo Travis (King Crimson, Steven Wilson): flute
Marty Wilson (Piper of The Church, All About Eve): guitar
Gustav Nygren (New Rose): sax

Description/Review

An energetic start gives way to the elegiac ‘If It All Comes Down To You’. Flautist extraordinaire Theo Travis (Steven Wilson Band, Gong, The Tangent to name a few) adds an extra level of melodic and emotional intensity. His yearning solos beckon the other musicians on like a pied piper and they bring the track home in a devastatingly beautiful denouement.
The centrepiece and perhaps the highlight is ‘Writing On The Wall’. Its apocalyptic lyrics, an epitaph for a falling Babylon, seem autobiographical given the intervening years: “Knew we could not stay/Had to find a way to leave it all behind/Once we thought that we could have it all”. The first half is classic Anekdoten, ensemble playing creating a dense collage. The second half shows off where the band are now. Barker’s lead guitar comes again to the fore while greater use of space and interplay between the instruments creates a more dynamic sound than of yore.

Read the full review by Chris McGarel at echoesanddust.com

Media/Samples
Bandcamp
Get Out Alive

Links:
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