Occasionally a band comes from out of nowhere and surprises you. Birmingham is not "nowhere" but who the hell are IO Earth? Is it "IO Earth" even, or "IOEarth" or even "I/O Earth"? Well, a quick shufty at their website provides some of the answers. The core behind IOEarth are Dave Cureton and Adam Gough who have known each other since they were at school together. Which must be a few years back. Well, in the 90s anyway. A couple of years ago, they began to get their musical ideas into shape, and that shape evolved into their debut album. Which is either untitled, or eponymously named. Your call.

So this is their debut album, and it's no shrinking violet. Some people go on about this or that album being "an album and a half". Well this is, quite literally that, in that it consists of three "movements" (stop sniggering at the back), namely Water, Earth and Air, and it's more on a par with a classical release, rather than your common or garden progressive rock album.

The first movement, Water, is split into seven parts, starting with the piano based Introduction, overlaid with the dreamy vocals of Louise Brabbins. This slips into the jaunty instrumental Storyteller, with the guitars and keyboards fighting for your attention. The urgent EEEE follows on. I'm not sure who sings this peice, but it must be one of Dave or Adam. Very impressively too. Interlude #1 does exactly what it says on the tin before moving aside to let the excellent Smokey Wood in. Again, Louise Brabbins lends her vocals while Steve Trigg add a touch of flugel horn to make it a very distinctive track. Come With Me, features the vocal talents of Steve Balsamo, who has worked with The Storys and ChimpanA (as well as starring in Jesus Christ Superstar in the West End) and starts off with sampled storm effects, over a keyboard soundscape. Listening to this track, it's obvious to see why Steve's vocals are in such demand. Opus II closes this section, a simple track with guitar over keyboard textures, while drummer Richard Cureton keeps a simple beat.

Mountains Start To Fall opens Movement two, Earth with Claire Malin taking over the female vocal role, and sees the band moving into the symphonic prog area. But it's a brief excursion, because the following song Loops veers more towards jazz-prog, with its bass line from Christian Nokes amd more flugel horn. Next comes, for me, the only downside to the album in the first half of Symphony #1, which just sounds like a bad 1950s Disney nightmare soundtrack. However, it's only a small abberation, and they're soon back on track with the guitar heavy Light And Shade. Intro Reprise gives everyone a bit of a breather before Home sparkles into life, with vocals again by Claire Malin. This section is brought to an end with the massive Creation, Eastern tinged sampled speech and chants vieing with some serious guitar freakery.

Air kicks off with the tribally influenced Sun Is Going Down, and that theme is continued through the brief Interlude #2 into Harmonix, another beautifully arranged track. The next track, Take Me, is possibly the only stand-alone "song" on the album. Excellent all round playing on this anthemic track, and another fine vocal performance from Mr Balsamo. In fact it;s so good, we played it on Proggy Style 72 last week. A downbeat reprise of Come With Me leads into the closing track Outro, an instrumental recap.

This is an astounding peice of work, and considering it is IOEarth's first, an incredible feat as well. It may well not be everybodys cup of tea - it's not one to sing along to, and would be rather useless as the soundtrack to an aerobics class - but I'm sure that prog heads everywhere will enjoy the lush orchestration. It will be very interesting to see how the band can improve on this on subsequent albums.

I'm also looking forward to seeing how they translate this onto the live stage. I'll get my chance this weekend, when they'll be playing at The Peel in Kingston On Thames, supported by the excellent Crimson Sky. Following that, they'll be playing at the The Jam House in Birmingham on 2nd March, then they'll be supporting Shadowland at the Wesley Centre, Rotherham on the 6th March before heading down to the Winter's End Festival in Stroud, where they'll be playing on Sunday 14th March.

Track Listing

Water

Introduction

Storyteller

EEEE

Interlude #1

Smoky Wood

Come With Me

Opus II

Earth

Mountains Start To Fall

Loops

Symphony #1

Light & Shade

Intro Reprise

Home

The Creation

Air

Sun Is Going Down

Interlude #2

Harmonix

Take Me

Come With Me (Reprise)

Outro

Band
Dave Cureton
Adam Gough
Additional Musicians
Richard Cureton (Drums/Percussion)
Steve Balsamo (Vocals)
Claire Malin (Vocals)
Louise Brabbins (Vocals)
Steve Trigg (Trumpet & Flugel Horn)
Christian Nokes (Bass)

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