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Frameshift “Unweaving the Rainbow”
CD Review


Above the Grass Pt. 1
Great acoustic, intimate introduction to the album. Very slow and mellow, creating an interesting feeling and expectation towards the album.


The Gene Machine
This song is probably going to be the favorite track for a lot of people. It is filled with great “techno loops” and awesome guitar and voice melodies. The chorus is what stands out from this song. It’s catchy, yet heavy, but at the same time, very deep, and dark. What are we and what’s the world like from a gene’s point of view. The song “mutates” from a very techno like looping song to a very heavy dark track, and still maintaining the flow on it.

Spiders
A new side of James LaBrie. And I guess a new side on prog (or at least that I am aware of): banjo. Yes, banjo. The song has several transitions that keep it very interesting.
The best moment of this song starts at 2:30 into the song when you hear James singing a cappella, singing different lyrics of the song at the same time, in the Savatage-Trans Siberian Orchestra-Spock’s Beard vein. A very innovative track in progressive rock. It becomes even more interesting when you find out what the track is really about.


River Out Of Eden
My second favorite track on the album. I love the intro. It just flows into you. The vocal tracks on this song are just amazing. You can hear the low part of James in the background creating a beautiful soundscape along with the music. Warr guitar is used extensively on this particular song. The last minute of the song is amazing, vocally, and instrumentally giving me the goose bumps. Personally, it is a beautiful track that contains a lot of interesting things going on at the same time.

Message From A Mountain
Message from a Mountain is a track full of very complicated melodies. It also contains some of James’ highest notes on the album. The orchestration is what makes this song an amazing song. A memorable moment: the bass solo going on at the same time with the orchestra at around 8:40. One word to describe this song: epic.

Your Eyes
The whole song reminds me of Spocks’ Beard, which I catalogue them as Happy Prog. You can hear Spock’s Beard references all over the place, most notable on the guitar and vocal melodies. The chorus may sound like a love song or ballad, but this song is no way about love. It’s about the physical eye, the organ eye, the one we use to see. And it keeps getting better and better with every listen.

La Mer
La Mer is a beautiful song dominated basically by LaBrie’s soft mellow voice, and Pauly’s piano playing. This song reminds me a lot of LaBrie’s performance on Leonardo: The Absolute Man, “Shaping the Invisible” (Magna Carta 2001). The ending on this song is probably one of the many memorable moments that this album has. The song starts slowly building up to an excellent ending, creating a craving for hitting the repeat button again on the CD player. La Mer is a perfect example of what James’ voice and one instrument can do: perfect blend between voice and music.

Nice Guys Finish First
Another Spock’s Beard reference. Happy Prog. Nice guys finish first is a fast paced song (sometimes making me want to dance) with a great chorus. The piano section after each chorus is beautiful. One interesting fact that I have not mentioned: the drumming. The drumming in this song is great. The fills are just played at the right time, and at the right place. The B3 makes its presence a lot on this song. 70’s prog. Nice solo Shawn!

Arms Races
The sound effects James uses in this song makes the track very interesting. Very aggressive, truly expresses what the song says and what its about. The transition in the middle of the song from heavy to a classical-feel like song is amazing. A moment that stands out is the orchestration around 2/3 of the song. Simply amazing, and memorable.

Origins and Miracles
The song intro is beautiful, very soft and mellow. There’s a lot of interesting things going on in the background: Warr guitar, piano, Chapman Stick, and guitars. They make this song an amazing ballad feel like song. The build up that the song creates: from soft and mellow, to high vocals. You will be very surprised what the song is really about.

Off The Ground
A B3 intro, a very Spocksy feel like introduction. The guitar solo is what stands out on this track. A lot of wah pedal going on. It is probably the most commercial song on the album because of its particular sound. It is very original, and yet very catchy.

Walking Through Genetic Space
The introduction brings back a cappella James again. After the introduction, Rush comes to mind in this song. Very soft introduction, dominated by vocals, the strings on the guitar, and the piano. The soft melody dominates the song, and it builds up until it reaches the short but epic chorus. This song contains the 40 vocals tracks in the introduction.

Cultural Genetics
Surprising sound effects in the introduction building up into a very heavy and impressive part. It transitions from dark-slow to dark-heavy back to dark-slow moments. The banjo all over the song will surprise you. Yes, banjo, on probably the heaviest and darkest song on the album, along with a lot of sound effects and sampling.

Bats
Another heavy dark track. The song talks about bats, and it creates the total dark-batty atmosphere. It is filled with very cool loops on the background. The vocals and the instruments on this track are just amazing. The performances just blow you away into the first listen.

Above The Grass Part II
As obvious, this song is the continuation of Above The Grass Part I. It starts where the first track left off, with James singing onto a higher pitched guitars (actually, they are not, it’s just 26 tracks of steel string and nylon guitars at the same time), with an orchestra in the background.
The climax on this song hits around 2 minutes before it ends, with an excellent orchestration.



Overall, the album is excellent, although the subject matter is very complicated. Evolution is a tough complicated and controversial subject (if seen on the religious side) but then again, Richard Dawkins makes it even more interesting, and offers different point of views, which may or may not change the way you see evolution. There are a lot of Dawkins references in this album and you will recognize them if you are an evolution fan, and if you like Dawkins work. For those who are not familiar with evolution and Dawkins work, is going to be hard to understand what each song is about. The album talks about bats, the human eye, spider webs, the genes’ point of view towards us, and many other intricate (weird if you are not familiar with the subject matter) stuff.
The record is filled with a variety of instruments (Warr guitar, Chapman Stick, B3, Scottish Pipes, Mellotron, Middle Eastern Fiddle, Alpenhorn, piano, cello, and the usual instruments, like drums, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, and keyboards), which make the album even more progressive, and makes the listener hook up more in the song (banjo in metal!). James LaBrie’s performance is very different from all the multiple projects he has been in (Dream Theater, Mullmuzzler, ELP and Queen Tributes, Leonardo: The Absolute Man). We hear him singing a cappella, and singing in very complicated and catchy melodies too. The way the vocal tracks were handled and done make this CD very interesting to listen too, but never creating a negative effect on the listener.
The album is filled with awesome performances by Henning Pauly (Electric and acoustic guitars, bass, synthesizer, piano, B3, Warr guitar, banjo, hand percussion, loop programming, orchestration, engineer and mixer); Eddie Marvin (drums); Nik Guadagnoli (bass, guitar, Chapman Stick); and James LaBrie on vocals, along with special guests Steve Katsikas on the Saxophone in Bats, and Shawn Gordon (Keyboard solo on Nice Guys Finish First). Lyricists include Henning Pauly, Nik Guadagnoli, Matt Cash, and Chris Donlon; which did an amazing work in coming up with the words and melodies using Richard Dawkins work.




You won’t be disappointed with this release. It is fresh new progressive rock. It has some Spock’s Beard and Rush but it has probably one of the most original material released. Favorite tracks include The Gene Machine, River Out Of Eden, Message From The Mountain, La Mer, Arms Races, Origins and Miracles, Cultural Genetics, and Above The Grass Pt. 1 and 2. You won’t be disappointed by this release. The only down side the album has is the complexity of the subject matter. As some listeners may enjoy deciphering the content of the songs, some will see it as tedious and confusing. Other than that, it is an amazing release, and an amazing piece of work by Henning Pauly, Nik Guadagnoli, Eddie Marvin, Matt Cash, and a fresh innovative performance by James LaBrie.

For more information please visit:
http://frameshift.progrockrecords.com (For Frameshift information)
http://www.progrockrecords.com (For more releases)
http://www.progrock.com (For progressive related information and radio streams)
http://www.jameslabrie.com (For James LaBrie News)

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That's what I did this Thanksgiving Holiday!
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Hope you like it as much as I am enjoying this album.
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www.mindawn.com
Carpe Diem and Prog On!

[Virtual Scott]

Damn, man, that is ONE thorough interview. I wish I could get a constructive, comprehensive review of my music in that fashion. Great and insightful write up!

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