Magari

Sometimes possessed of the dramatic bombast of its prog roots, and drawing its stylistic features from all over, this music mainly takes the textural approach characteristic of post-rock. It most resembles the traditional sounds of progressive rock on ‘Oceans Away’, the third movement of this three part composition, particularly in the lead keyboard parts. There are also elements of metal throughout, with some crunchy, rhythmic riff-craft, but curiously it never sounds heavy, so much as propulsive. I think that’s characteristic of this band: they employ a variety of recognisable stylistic features, but not in an obvious way, and without necessarily buying into the assumptions that come with them. This music is never about showing off, never about being a guitar hero, never in fact about anything except arranging a set of musical materials to develop an involving long form narrative.

I suspect this discipline, and the almost reticent approach to performance, is the reason for the music’s resemblance to post-rock, rather than any intention or direct influence. Prog rock is associated with noodling, and many of its fans enjoy a good, long chops-fest of a guitar solo, but there is no noodling here whatsoever. The album is introduced by what I take to be a synthesizer string sound, droning on a low note, from which emerges the first guitar texture; after the whole of its dramatic narrative, its huge range of dynamics, textures, sounds, melodies, vocals, its wide ranging journey, it returns to the same place. Some might find that circularity depressing, or indicative of a lack of creative progress, but to me this music tells a story (even without having listened closely to the lyrics), and it’s a story that like so many real stories, and so many real journeys, ends at home. This sense of cyclicity can be heard in the details of the music as well as its overarching structure.

There are some very engaging melodies and chord progressions in this recording, which frequently take unexpected turns in a way that is never jarring, but almost always moving, with a sense of warmth, if somewhat melancholy as well. In fact, that’s just the impression this record left me with: one of warmth. It has an enveloping and quite densely mixed soundstage, where nothing is unduly prominent; I take that as another token of the lack of ego that informs the EP. Much progressive rock is built, to my ear, on an empty technicalism, a creatively bankrupt obsession with musical cleverness: this is motivated by Magari’s sincere desire to share the great sounds they have found. - Oliver Arditi

From ambient beginnings, 'A Crescent Dream' puts a toe in the water of post rock, a tentative step over the threshold of psychedelia and then jumps feet first into the elusive pool of originality.

Billed as a dream sequence in 3 parts the instrumental Pensive builds from a Badalamenti style opening into an Explosions In The Sky'esque finale.

A Look Through Fog even has some metal chops interspersed with delicate layered picked guitar. The vocals could be stronger but do complement the track in a kind of tentative Ben Folds style. The climax to the song is all the better for the addition of synth.

Oceans Away veers more into Prog territory with some trademark synth runs, a 9 minute piece which builds to around the 5 minute mark then has a glorious change of emphasis. Like the best new music (for those that are prepared to look for it), Magari manage to take a variety of influences and blend them into something new and truly creative.

There are a few minor flaws in the production which hardly matter in the grand scheme of the potential shown here.

Rating: 4/5 - StrummerLive.net

Magari are a new, three-piece psychedelic rock slash prog-metal band from Connecticut, USA. Their debut EP – ‘A Crescent Dream’, released February 1 – shows real promise, and Magari could well turn out to be welcome additions to a genre dying for some new blood.

‘A Crescent Dream’ has a mini-concept running through its three songs – a dream sequence covering loss and its subsequent displacement, and the journey for getting back on track. Clocking in at 20 minutes, this EP is an ambitious first release for a band with clear aspirations to transcend genres and inject some excitement back into prog-metal.

Track one (or perhaps I should say part one) – entitled ‘Pensive’ – is a sublime instrumental with eerie keys and layered of ambient guitar noodlings. It’s post-rock of the highest caliber, which despite being lyric and vocal free manages to convey a strong sense of melancholy. ‘A Look Through Fog’ is the first time we hear the harmonious vocals of the trio, and marks a shift from prog-rock to prog-metal, with sludgy metal riffing entering from about half way through the track. To be in honest, the vocals aren’t the most striking element of Magari’s music – they’re fairly bland and slightly flat in places. But this band is about progressive instrumentation, and this is shown no better than on the final segment of the EP ‘Oceans Away’.

Kicking off with some tinkling piano and acoustic, folk strumming this epic, nine-minute track is reminiscent of prog-metal overlords Opeth at their most somber – it’s a tender and affecting intro. Then, just before the two minute mark, it goes all loopy when some crazy, Celtic-inspired synths are introduced – although it took a couple of listens before I could decide that these synths worked, love it or hate it this is innovative stuff. The melodies of this song have a similar style to the clean vocals from the first From Autumn To Ashes record ‘Too Bad You’re Beautiful’. Towards the end of the end of ‘Oceans Away’ some of the music from ‘Pensive’ is spliced into the song, and there’s some divine, chilled guitar soloing.


Now, ‘A Crescent Dream’ certainly shows a lot of potential, but it’s not without its faults. As already mentioned, the vocals could do with some work. But what lets this EP down is the production quality. I understand that this debut must have been recorded on a shoestring budget, but the metal of this prog-metal outfit almost goes unnoticed because the guitars are too low in the mix – the heavy metal aspect needs to be heavier! Saying that, the raw vibe does make the music that little bit more intimate. For fans of prog-rock and prog-metal it’ll certainly be worth your time keeping an eye on these newcomers. - Music Liberation