*. Immram .*

Album: The Voyage Of The Corvus Corrone (2011)
Genre: Prog Rock (Ambient/Electronic/Space/Synth)  /  New Zealand

The atmosphere of the opening track is a bit like Camel's Snowgoose but in this case the sounds of the ocean and breakers is complemented by a ship's horn and floating sounds by Module's keyboards. An echoing guitar joins in and the atmosphere and theme change into a more rhythmic sound with instrumental music comparable to the eighties sound by OMD. The theme of the first part returns for a short while. The sound in Dignity is still very much like easy listening and flowing music - in the style of synthi-pop bands from the eighties mixed with influences from Tangerine Dream from that same early eighties era - as we hear the voice of Paul McLaney for the first time, though only for a short period of time. A beautiful mellow voice, sounding quite a bit like Iva Davies' (Icehouse) vocals. Accompaniment are keyboards and electronic percussion, effects and in the middle, a nice guitar solo. A tempo change and the music begins to sound even more like Tangerine Dream, but also like the instrumental music from Eloy and also very much like P'Cock's first album. Especially because of the sound of the lead-synth. To Liberty is the third track, gentle flowing music by keyboards and guitar and Paul's vocal. The music builds up nicely with the addition of a synth bass, percussion and more keyboards. Then the guitar takes over the melody and subsequently more sequencing and keyboards. In the last part of the track the music keeps flowing gently but besides keyboards and effects there's nice acoustic guitar, bringing in some 'folk' elements, but the overall sound can be circumscribed as 'ambient'. In Let Us Leave Under The Cover Of Night some oriental influences because of the way the glockenspiel (samples) are used, before the orchestrations are added and a sequencer brings back the sound of P'Cock once more. In the last part the sounds of the ocean, horses and some keyboards are an introduction to track five: The Voyage Of The Corvus Corrone, so the title track. The same echoing guitar as in the first song, this time with Paul McLaney's vocal. As his voice sounds like a telephone call, the sound changes into his normal voice, keyboards are added and partly the music sounds like Depeche Mode. In the second half of the song there the echoing sound of McLaney's guitar in the vein of The Shadows (yes, the band from the sixties), followed by nice synthesizers in TD style. Ambient music at the end and right into the next track called The Edges Of The Map. The spacey music by one keyboard and environmental sounds is followed by tasteful instrumental electronic music in the vein of Tangerine Dream (late seventies, early eighties), a melancholic 'ambient' song. Last track is Freedom's Song, also a mellow gently flowing song in the same vein of EM and Paul's tranquillizing vocals. The book is of an excellent quality with lush illustrations by Matt Pitt and covers the amazing story of this voyage. The most important for prog-fans however would be the music. In my opinion Immram is an exquisite melting-pot of Tangerine Dream, P'Cock, Icehouse and some of the bands from the age of synthi-pop like OMD and Depeche Mode, while there are some passages reminiscent of Steve Hillage and Eloy. Review by "Menno von Brucken Fock" (www.dprp.net).

RATING:  8.5 / 10

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