Naked Elf
Yi
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Yi, which means "one" in Chinese, is the debut release by Naked Elf and stakes the group's stylistic claim.
All the songs were improvised with no prior knowledge whatsoever of the style or shape of piece, with no pre-written parts. The music relies completely on the interplay and sensitivity of the players to each other and the music as a whole, along with a bit of judicious editing after the fact. The results often sound surprisingly written and arranged. This isn't chaotic thrashing or pointless riffing and soloing, but music that develops and explores. And though the band visits various musical styles and forms, they never let go of the inherent power of rock music, anchoring the sound in a classic space/prog rock vocabulary while pushing at the stylistic perimeters of the genre.
In the course of an hour, Yi moves through heavy grooves, explosive freakouts, cosmic trips, floating ambience, delicate instrumental interplay, pretty sounds, ugly noise, sublime majesty and ridiculous juxtapositions. It is an album for those who enjoy a little cosmic milk with their space cake.
"They're great musicians and also the most inventive and talented among those 'spontaneous' composers and arrangers that I've ever heard... ...Everything (at least almost everything) on this album is filled with uniqueness, mystery, and magic. Any true Prog-lover should quickly understand that "Yi" is not only the great album, but also one of those 'eternal' albums that remain listenable (to say the least) for years to come, if not forever."
"The musicianship is top-notch and the works seem well-rehearsed even though they might only be partially scripted beforehand, I'm not sure. I had actually to go back and play the album through to make sure the music was purely instrumental before writing this review, which is a sign that there's nothing seemingly 'missing' to Naked Elf's repertoire." |
