IAN ECCLES-SMITH

Apsilene

Ian Eccles-Smith (2003)

no album art available at this time - sorry

review by Dene Bebbington

During my time as a reviewer for Wind & Wire I've come across many artists that were new to me; Ian E. Smith is one of the more recent ones. According to his website, it seems that Apsilene is his first true album, his previous work being some film soundtracks and collaboration with Paul Schutze. I hesitate to call it a studio album because on at least two tracks cheering can be heard, suggesting some live material has been used. Apsilene is a pretty interesting release, overall it has a prog rock feel with a lot of electric guitar, drums and hi-hat, but there's also acoustic guitar and keyboards to be heard.

I'm not really into prog rock as a listener, so the first time I heard this album I was a bit wary because of those elements. Perseverance can pay dividends with music though and after a few listens this started to grow on me, it won't ever be my favourite album but it won't become one of the few "never to be played again" albums that I've occasionally encountered.

A fair amount of this album is uptempo, in its own slightly disquieting way, with some easier going interludes. Like a lot of prog rock Apsilene isn't especially melodic, but neither is it unmelodic - if that makes any sense! The drums provide rhythm while the guitar riffs do their thing in a more or less tuneful manner.

The piece "Where is the Point of Freezing" starts off with a refrain played on acoustic guitar that sounded familiar to me, and after a bit of head scratching I realised it must be a nod to Mike Oldfield as the refrain comes from the track "The Lake" on Discovery.

You don't need to be a fan of prog rock to enjoy Apsilene. It's a good instrumental album, somewhat unique, and though not dark the music has a kind of unsettling quality at times. It's definitely one for people who like electric guitar.