In the progressive global musical landscape, the Swedes of 'The Flower Kings' have become an essential formation and, after an excellent 'Waiting For Miracles' in 2019, a little year later, they offer us a new opus 'Islands', and what an opus, since it is a double CD with the characteristic of containing only fairly short compositions for this type of music (we are entitled nevertheless to a title which borders on 10 minutes) and which total one hour and thirty-five minutes. It goes without saying that this new baby of the Swedes requires that we linger there if we want to draw all the richness and given the abundance of titles (21 in total) and the diversity that each brings. On the other hand, even if there is a theme on the isolation that this period of epidemic brings us, clearly reflected by the image of islands cut off from the world, I have not succeeded in finding a homogeneity that requires listen to all at once as is often the case in the progressive and, suddenly, I apprehended it a little differently by discovering it little by little which, finally, allowed me to come back to it by little touch without any frustration of not taking it in its entirety.
Given the diversity of the album, a review detailing all titles would be too long (all the more so, that even if the titles are shorter, that does not prevent that each one integrates a good dose of progressive which shows that this style is not necessarily synonymous with long developments), and, therefore, I will tell you about the different atmospheres released : from the first title, with 'Racing With Blinders On', we have to do with a beaming progressive with a few modulations of intensity and we find this luminous side in other titles such as 'From the Ground' with his pop style, 'Black Swan' and its cabaret atmosphere of the interwar period, the light 'Morning News', the entailing 'Broken', the short instrumentals with jazzy intonations 'Jounrneyman' and 'Hidden Angles', the improbable 'All I Need Is Love' which bring together the acoustic guitar rhythm of the 'Gypsy Kings' with that of the electric guitar from 'David Gilmour', the sly 'Serpentine' or the mischievous 'Between Hope & Fear'. In parallel, other compositions bring a much more calm and melancholy side such as the symphonic 'Goodbye Outrage', the sensual 'Tangerine', the remarkable 'Solaris' which unfolds a slow melody that envelops you, the atmospheric 'Heart of the Valley', the relaxing 'Man In A Two Peace Suit' with its aerial guitar close to 'Santana', the psychedelic 'A New Species' that would not have denied 'Syd Barret', the nonchalant 'Northern Lights' which brings a soothing melancholy, the masterful instrumental 'Looking for Answer' borrowing, among others, from classical music in the style of 'Saint-Preux', the relaxing 'Telescope' with its Latino intonations again bringing us back to 'Santana', the rhythmic 'Fool's Gold' with its sounds close to 'Uriah Heep' of the first hour, the album ending with the sumptuous symphonic instrumental 'Islands' with memorable melodic lines set in value by wonderful guitar solos. Note also this magnificent cover which, just looking at it, must trigger some thrills of emotion to some fans of the first hour of 'Yes' or of'Asia' or still of 'Uriah Heep' to name only rock bands because it's 'Roger Dean' who made it.
In summary, the Swedes of 'The Flower Kings' set the bar very high again with this double album which, it must be emphasized, was produced while the members of the group were in several different countries but the result of which is a kind of patchwork of compositions of a richness and a variety certainly unique as if they had wanted to realize a kind of progressive compilation with various influences which still makes 'Islands' a recording to add to the ideal collection for any amateur of progressive music... | |
