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KARFAGEN - LOST SYMPHONY
Audio Samples and Making of Video are availble see below.....
Hello my friends I am back again and on a creative high !
What an unbelievable time we`ve had while recording the guitars for the new Karfagen album, we`ve spent 5 days of intense work with very little sleep and I`m so
pleased with what we`ve created.
Alexandr Pavlov is one fabulous guitarist, it`s a big honour to have
him on board, he came all the way from Kiev and stayed with us 24/7 for
the whole period of the recording and we all formed a great bond, Serg Alex and
myself. We made such huge strides with the album that
I`m really excited now to confirm that the new Karfagen
release is coming in time for Christmas.
It`ll be a superb present and a reminder to all who endorse and savour
instrumental art-rock from 1970s, something like Camel, Focus, Happy the
Man and Pat Metheny.
Below is some music and a making of video....
So stay tuned! Antony.
Watch the making of Lost Symphony
a 35+ minute insight into the latest album with some great footage of the
guys and their working environment and as ever Antony has some stunning
artistic video work to enhance your enjoyment.
Audio Samples:-
First Review (and from a musicians point of view) by Erik de Beer the talented Dutch multi instrumenatlist known for his excellent Life Line Projects :
Lost
Symphony is a huge step forward for the Ukrainian project Karfagen, led
by the brilliant Antony Kalugin. The album is completely instrumental
and practically every composition on the album is a highlight. You
might expect a bombastic and heavy symphonic sound with a title like
this, but what you get is a symphony of subtleties.
You
will have to listen to the album a couple of times carefully before you
get to the structure of it. All compositions flow into each other. But
once you have acquired the taste, you just can't stop listening to it.
Every time you listen, you will discover new things, new sounds in the
background, or little details you hadn't noticed before in the
arrangements, which are all meticulously worked out.
To
achieve this varied sound, mister Kalugin has once more surrounded
himself with a small orchestra of excellent musicians. Apart from the
standard band line up, consisting of guitars, keyboards, bass &
drums, there can be a enjoyed a small string section and a lavish
woodwind section, consisting of a flute, a oboe and a bassoon. As an
extra folk element, a bayan, a Russian/Ukrainian sort of accordion is
added to the line up. As mentioned, there are no vocals on this album,
or it should be the sporadic text less vocal interventions in some of
the compositions. I don't think words would have been necessary on this
album. The eloquence is in the music.
The
sound of Karfagen has always been firmly rooted in Ukrainian folk
music, which gives the band a very characteristic sound. The music is
very melodious and mixes in a beautiful way jazz, classic, folk and
symphonic rock into a beautiful fairy tale-like musical landscape.
Practically
all compositions on Lost Symphony are written by keyboard-player Antony
Kalugin, with the exception of an acoustic guitar gem by guitarist
Alexandr Pavlov, who may be held responsible for most guitar parts on
the album and another one by Roman Gorielov, who makes a guest
appearance only in that particular piece.
After
a short keyboard introduction the music evolves in the up tempo and
solid "Salvatore", a very attractive composition, displaying right away
the many musical aspects Karfagen has to offer.
The
short organ intermezzo "Orgaria" leads to the beautiful symphonic
"Cosmic Frog & The Beast". Both the electric and acoustic guitar
parts by Alexandr Pavlov are worth mentioning. The gentle melodies
played by the bassoon made me unconsciously think of "Papillon" by the
Italian band Latte e Miele. It's a miracle that so many fluent and
attractive melodies fit in such a short time space. The well chosen
keyboard sounds are never intrusive and connect all sections of this
modern classical composition, that ends with a smooth chord played by
the winds.
I
liked a lot the "Journey Through The Looking Glass", a huge musical
adventure with lots of tempo and character changes. The subtle acoustic
melodies are often alternated by solid band interventions, supported by
a very effective rhythm section. The excellent flute playing by Vasya
Ivanov reminded me a lot of the Hungarian band Solaris on "The Martian
Chronicles" and I certainly think that fans of that band will be
pleased with this Karfagen album as well. The bayan carefully placed in
the arrangements gives this composition just its necessary uniqueness.
Again the subtle keyboard sounds of Antony Kalugin are closely
intertwined with the several woodwinds, violins & cello.
The
Symphony Of Sound (a bit of a pleonasm there), added as a bonus track
(I wonder why) is another great composition, that according to the
story in the booklet almost was lost, because the bulk of the
arrangement had been erased, but luckily the track could be
reconstructed thanks to a raw audio mix. It's a solid piece of music
with some remarkable keyboard playing.
The
recording is well done, the sound has a great transparency, thus
highlighting all details of the arrangements. The beautiful paintings
in the booklet by Alla Navrotskaya add a lot to the folk character of
the album and fit in with the music perfectly.
I
think that mister Kalugin has achieved with his "Lost Symphony" an
album that will appeal to everyone who takes the time to listen to
details and I would recommend this album in particular to fans of
artists like Pekka Pohjola, Solaris, Mike Oldfield and Latte &
Miele or simply to those who really love great music.
An album with so many highlights, which provided me with so many happy hours, can only be rewarded with five stars !
Erik de Beer.
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