At
the end of December 2001, my friend and I were about to witness a concert of
Ken's Novel in the Spirit of 66 in Verviers.
As usual, a supporting act was programmed. It happened to be the unknown Belgian band, The Silk.
It was their first gig in this line-up : Alain Delsaux on guitar,
Jacques Duchateau on bass, Marian Pawlik on drums and Jo Douchamps as
vocalist. Even if their music
can't be catalogued as pure progressive rock, the audience was surprised in
a pleasant way. I watched them
again, later, during the Prog-Convention of Prog-Résiste. The
Silk is a young Haspengouw-band with a superb singer from Waterloo.
It's almost impossible to describe the type of music they play, but,
according to them, they play rather rock-prog than prog-rock.
Each track is totally different and you can hear the mix of styles,
harmoniously held together by the guitar.
Often, rather complicated chords and interesting riffs show the
strength of their compositions. The
rhythm section adds to the energetic rock. But
their biggest trump card is undoubtedly their female singer.
An incredible and natural voice.
The names of Kate Bush, Nina Hagen, Janis Joplin and Viona Westra
(from the Belgian cult band Mad Curry) crossed my mind.
Without any trouble, she sings high and low tones with an amazing
flexibility. Some tracks seem like a duet between voice and guitar.
They
released a CD themselves: ‘Precious Baby’ and they are, urgently, in
search of a record label. This
mini-CD contains only 6 tracks, but it shows the bands talents very well.
The line up is not the present one : Bernard Wauters on guitar (left
the band), Marc Brasselet on drums (replaced by Marian Pawlik).
The lyrics are written by Jo Duchamps’ English girlfriend, a fact
that increases their credibility. A
perfect illustration of the strong rhythm section is immediately given in
the opening track “Safe”, sung very sensitively and accorded with
excellent guitar play. A ‘not
common’ exotic track is “Smell of Success” with lots of percussion
and, again, this mix of musical influences. “The
Rats” is a beautiful ballad with big hit-potential, although in the
middle, the etheric sounds flow over into hard rock with howling
guitars…superb ! There
are clearly jazz-influences in “The Circus” and JO’s voice is very
similar to Kate Bush’s. Songs
like these are difficult to describe with words, you need to hear them –
preferably live- if only to admire the singer’s vocal firmness on stage. “The
Great Escape” is a jazz/progressive rock hybrid with lots of tempo
changes. Again, the diversity
of the vibrating voice is remarkable, although Alain’s guitar plays a
prominent part, especially on
the last and longest track (almost 6’) “Home Sweet Home”.
The band proves it can be regarded as a part of the progressive
world. The interplay between
vocalist and guitarist is excellent, even in their updated and modernised
sounds of the 70’s. The
Silk is a band with growing potential.
They play very original and refreshing music, leaning towards
progressive rock. I hope we can
expect a full CD very soon, because Belgium has to cherish their talents.
Reviewed
by Claude ‘Claeyron’ Bosschem. Translated
by Walter ‘HaHa’ Haentjens. |
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