TOM PENAGUIN – Tom Penaguin
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The Canterbury scene, an offshoot of the progressive rock movement of the early seventies, never really reached a larger audience later on, probably because the bigger progressive rock bands like Genesis, Pink Floyd and Yes made it really big with their pop material in the eighties, which again led their fans to discover their early, more adventurous material. And yet there is a thing called neo Canterbury movement, maybe because Bandcamp did a feature on this, culminating last year with Zopp’s second album which distilled all the important facets of the genre into an exquisite piece of art. Zopp’s Ryan Stevenson now advised French multi-instrumentalist Tom Penaguin for his solo debut album, another strong addition to the neo Canterbury canon. Tom Penaguin is not really a newcomer. He is currently also the guitarist of psychedelic stoner doom band Djiin, and used to play the keyboards in heavy psyche rock band Orgöne. He also released independently two solo albums on his Bandcamp page. His eponymous new album can still be considered his solo debut, as it is his most ambitious record yet. At the age of seventeen, Tom Penaguin had the idea of recording a Canterbury styled instrumental album, but it took him ten years to collect all the equipment needed to succeed. Unlike other solo artists, he really plays all the instruments himself: guitars, keyboards, bass and even live drums. Apart from recording the tracks on a computer, everything else is analogue, guaranteeing a wonderfully warm organic sound. The album begins with The Stove Viewpoint Introduction, a nearly three-minute-long intro mostly consisting of field recordings, segueing seamlessly into Housefly Leg, at a quarter hour the album’s magnum opus. The song displays wonderful guitar work, reminiscent of Canterbury late-comers National Health, whereas the more whimsical keyboard parts draw parallels to Hatfield And The North, both bands that were among the most important if not widely known artists of the Canterbury movement. The following Aborted Long Piece No2 was supposed to fill an entire LP side, but was cut short after three and a half minutes. The title is a reference to Egg’s Long Piece No. 3, and just like that early Canterbury band, we get no guitars but lots of organs on this track. Arrival Of The Great Hedgehog begins quietly enough but constantly builds momentum, ending in a crescendo full of howling guitar solos that might remind you of a young John McLaughlin and his Mahavishnu Orchestra. The album ends with the very Canterbury sounding The Stove Packed Up And Left, at seven and a half minutes another generous piece of music. I can’t remember ever having heard a solo album where all the instruments have been played by one single musician at such high levels. The keyboards sounds are extremely varied but always true to the source inspiration, the guitar playing is incredibly skilful and sometimes truly wild. The bass work isn’t neglected either, as the bass solo towards the end of Housefly Leg will testify. Especially the drums add organic authenticity, because all too often, solo musicians rely on programmed drums which can’t really replace the real thing. The only small complaint is the short length of the album, which makes for no boring or repetitive moments. Let’s hope that Tom Penaguin will continue with his brilliant solo career, because together with Zopp, they are truly reviving a genre that finally might get the recognition it deserves. |
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5 songs |
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37:33 minutes |
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***** ***** |
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Genre: instr. progressive rock Label: áMARXE |
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