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Hostsonaten, "Springsong" (Sublime)

I was initially very excited about this CD after reading the liner notes for it
and seeing that one song included an audio clip from Zerkalo(The
Mirror), an excellent film by the truly brilliant Russian director Andrei
Tarkovsky. After listening to Springsong, I determined that Tarkovsky
was an excellent point of comparison only in surface features. Like Tarkovsky's
greatest films, Springsong is meandering, sometimes apparently
directionless, tends to sustain certain moods for what seems like long periods
of time without change, and is polished and precise in every detail. However,
Hostsonaten don't have a whole lot going on under this surface, while
Tarkovsky, obviously, does. Springsong contains moments of true beauty,
such as the simple, PFM-like flute theme that reappears several times, but much
of the CD is simply too much of the same lushly produced instrumental prog-rock.
Needlessly to say, the mood of the music itself is far removed from the austere
beauty of Tarkovsky's films (even without being able to understand what's being
said in the film clip, the mere sound of the speaker's voice seems completely
out-of-place in Hostsonaten's music). Although they incorporate some very
Italian touches (and despite the Scandinavian name they are indeed Italian),
the main base the group seems to be working off of is Camel's excellent The
Snow Goose. I have a feeling many Camel fans will find something to like in
the Latimer-like soaring guitar leads, though I think they're sometimes a bit
too over the top. There are also quite a few Celtic touches thrown in, mostly
in a 'Celtic-lite' vein that slightly offends me as a person of Irish ancestry.
But I have to admit, Celtic stylings do pay off in the majestic finale of the
album's closing epic.

Like many of the albums I've reviewed at EER, Hostsonaten have potential but
need more focus. Beautiful melodies and excellent structuring only peek out
occasionally from the wash of nice but unremarkable material, but they are
definitely there. They aren't up to taking on the vaguely similar-sounding
Finisterre as the new kings of Italian symphonic prog yet, but one day, who
knows?

  ~ Adam Murphree 





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