Saturday 23 June 2012

Tee (The Earth Explorer) - Trans Europe Expression (2012)



This album arrived into my world like the sun from the east !!!

This is the second studio album from this Japanese band. A previous cover band who did covers of all the English bands. They may still do it as The Watch is doing these days. I don't know. But they have branched out into doing their own material too. This album, with a brilliant cover art work, is the end result. A result as flowery as both their band name and the album title.

The music is an instrumental mix of Japanese rock, sympho prog, Canterbury, folk rock, eclectic prog and jazz. The flute is the main solo instrument. The guitars, both half-acoustic and electric, is also very much alive here. Some brilliant solos, they offers up too. There are also a lot of mellotrons and moog here too. An excellent addition to this mix. Piano is also plentyfull here. The band adds Japanese flavours by adding some female vocals as sound effects. The drums and bass is also very much alive here.

Most instrumental albums lacks teeth and textures. But this is not the case here. The music is very dynamic and full of intricate details. They have even found space for some great melodies too. The result is a great album from a band I hope we will hear a lot more from in the future. This is an album full of life and joy. An album that chases away the rain and the flooding. What's left is a field full of Japanese flowers.

This album is not perfect as it lacks a couple of brilliant tracks. But it is still a great album.

4 points

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