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The next piece of work from Mats Johansson’s MIND
series is Mind Vol. 5: The Observatory. It is comprised of a DVD
and, even more importantly, a live recording from their September
11, 2004 concert in Diezel, Halmstad in Sweden. Besides the live
performance, there are a few new songs in their entirety from the
Mind
- Vol. 4: Pass.
That means that you know what you can expect. For those who have
never seen Isildurs Bane live, now is your chance to take it all
in. The set list is about the same as their concerts from The
Spirit of ’66 and from De Boerderij at the end of 2003. So it’s
almost the whole album of
Mind
- Vol. 4: Pass.
Isildurs Bane is a group with an ever changing cast who revolve
around keyboard player Mats Johansson and guitarist Jonas Christophs.
Up until their last album, they mainly played a variety of
instrumental music with lots of personal influences. This kind of
music created a very unique kind of ambiance. Starting from their
last album, it was actually the songs with the vocals that gave them
the upper hand to make a much more accessible album. With the
necessary promotion, it could have been successful .
Our year
end music poll
of 2003
gave that album 12th place, which is
not bad, considering the competition. The music is flecked with
lovely bits of very beautiful guitar playing and the vocals of
Christof Jeppsson remind me of Peter Gabriel.
The DVD is put together as a kind of documentary
and this fits nicely in the framework of the MIND project. But the
fact that it is not recorded in Dolby 5.1 is a disappointment. You
can’t use a menu either to zap to the next song or to skip some
songs. The documentary clips take away from the flow of the
concert, but, luckily, you can just fast forward if you like. The
pictures of the documentary are nice to see, but once is enough.
They’re not incredibly essential. These pieces were filmed by the
band members themselves during their tours from 1988-2004. What is
interesting are the new songs whereby 3 of them are completely
redone and shown with their corresponding clips. They are very
solid songs and are sung mainly by Mariette Hansson. The song
“People are Afraid” is certainly worth mentioning. This gives some
promise for the next album.
Naturally, the live recording of the DVD is the
main part. As I’ve said, all the songs are skilfully played and the
fantastic guitar playing by Jonas Christophs and the gorgeous
singing of Mariette Hansson and Linnea Olsson deserve an honourable
mention.
Isildurs Bane is an experience that you must try. Let yourself be
strung along by their eccentric approach to music and enjoy the
delicious symphonic moments and the beautiful vocals and guitar
solos. This DVD gives you the chance to create your own image with
this wonderful music. I recommend it! |
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Klas Assarsson
- percussion, vibraphone, marimba
Jonas Christophs - electric guitar
Mariette Hansson - electric guitar, vocals
Christof Jeppsson - vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion
Fredrik "Gicken" Johansson - bass
Mats Johansson - keyboards
Linnea Olsson - cello, vocals
Kjell Severinsson - drums
with
Fredrik Davidsson - trompet (on "Celestial Vessel")
Christian Saggase - classical guitar (on "People Are Afraid")
Mats "MP3 Persson - Treatments (on "Under The Wind", "People Are Afraid",
& "Without Grace")
There Allbjer - background vocals (on "Under The Wind")
Nilla Nielsen - background vocals (on "Idea")
Peter Skoog - violin (on "Under The Wind", "People Are Afraid" & "Without
Grace")
Michael Nielsen - violin (on "Under The Wind", "People Are Afraid" &
"Without Grace")
Jan Svensson - viola (on "Under The Wind", "People Are Afraid" & "Without
Grace")
Anna-Stina Mühlhäuser - cello (on "Under The Wind", "People Are Afraid" &
"Without Grace") |
