Strawberry Fields is a new project put together by leading Polish progger Wojtek Szadkowski, of Collage, Peter Pan and Satellite fame. For this album he has teamed up with new a new voice in the crowd, Robin - who has also written all the lyrics. They are supported by Satellite's Sarhan Kubeisi on guitar and Jarek Michalski on bass.
Those of you familiar with Wojteks work in Satellite, and that should be most of you, will be surprised to hear that he has a mellower side, and that's something that really comes out on these songs. With Robin's beautiful and emotive voice at the forefront here, it's easy to see where the comparisons with bands like The Gathering have come from. They don't come off badly in comparison either!
Album opener Your Story is a slow, dreamy tune with perfectly encapulates what the bands sound is about. Robin's vocals over Wojteks restrained keyboards, with a fair dose of Sarhan's guitar for good measure. It could almost be trance-prog if such a thing exists.
Other highlights on the album are the heavier Close, the Portishead groove of title track River's Gone Dry (which we featured both as a YouTube of the Week and have played on the Proggy Style Radio Show 51), the late night jazz of Moon, the Natalie Imbrugliaish Beautiful and Open Your Eyes.
Overall, this is an excellent and atmospheric debut, which shows plenty of promise for the future, and it might even give The Gathering a kick up the arse, as they work on their first album since Anneke van Giersbergen left.
Track List:
- Your Story
- Close
- River's Gone Dry
- Fool
- Moon
- Beautiful
- Open Your Eyes
- Maybe
- Flow
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