SYMPOZION - KUNDABUFFER

SYMPOZION - KUNDABUFFER

Disk 1 . . . . . . .52.15
1. Patterns (Abraham) . . . . . 3:34
2. Happy War Holiday (Hayat) . . . . . 8:05
3. Bird (Hayat) . . . . . 3:41
4. Grapefruit (Hayat, Abraham, Halifa) . . . 8:48
5. Six (Abraham) . . . . . . 4:07
6. Zona (Hayat, Ben-Zvi) . . . . 8:06
7. Too Much (Hayat) . . . . . 4:53
8. Grapefruit Variations (Abraham, Hayat) . . 10:56

Format: Single CD • Unicorn Digital UNCR-5036
release date: January 7, 2006
Sympozion's official website at: http://www.sympozion.com

Line-up:
Arik Hayat:
Keyboards, Vocals, Recorders
Elad Abraham:
Guitar, Recorders
Ori Ben-Zvi: Guitars
Dan Carpman: Bass, Vocals
Boris Zilberstein: Drums
Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Udi Koomran at Ginger Studios

What a great musical discovery! Sympozion is a group from Israel that has been together for a couple of years, but just recently released their first album, entitled Kundabuffer, attracting the attention of the international music community in the process. The originality of their music and the richness of their sound makes them a group in a class of their own. This album was released quite early in the year and already many people are talking about the best new group of the year, top twenty prog album material and so on. Let me add my voice to all this talk: A brilliant album unlike anything I have heard in a long time!

The music of Sympozion is a truly original blend of RIO, avant-garde, jazz fusion with elements of chamber music. You could distinguish influences and sounds from Gentle Giant, Camel, National Health, Univers Zéro, Frank Zappa and many more, but I feel that Sympozion has quite succesfully created a sound of its own, and as a whole, the album flows very smoothly, a highly cohesive ensemble of tracks. One important note I must make is that the group is composed of amazingly talented musicians, playing a combination of brilliant melodies with the more complex elements of RIO, the richness of their sound comes from the multiple layers of rhythms and harmonies, becoming deliciously overwhelming at times. Musically, there is so much happening on this album that you'll need many auditions of this CD to catch all the yummy musical bits and subtleties throughout it. The compositions are mostly instrumental, with two tracks (Bird and Zona) sung in hebrew.

The first track, Patterns begins with a highly rhythmic piano/guitar intro and has a very complex and elaborate melody, brilliant stuff that just catches your attention instantly, the flute is omnipresent throughout this track. Happy War Holiday has a very Zappa-esque sound, switching to a great guitar improvisation, one the most captivating track of the album in my mind. Bird begins with vocals sung in hebrew, but don't let that scare you, the vocal harmonies are quite interesting, it is one of the more smooth and relaxed tracks of the album. Grapefruit begins with a syncopated piano intro, and is the more "Rock In Opposition-ish" track of the album with sometimes dissonant harmonies, offbeat time signatures and various sound effects. Six begins with a complex keyboard intro and has a more of a jazzier sound. Zona, again has some vocals sung in hebrew, with a more straightforward rhythm, some original keyboard work and some great guitar improvisations, with many catchy, jazzy bits in the middle, ending in a loud chaos of instruments. Too Much features great keyboard work from Arik Hayat and some good-sounding rock guitar and an ending that would make Hasse Bruniusson proud! Grapefruit Variations is the longest track of the album and begins with a melancholic piano melody, quickly picking-up the pace with a cool wah-wah guitar portion, bringing back the theme from the begining on the guitar and the recorder towards the end.

The album has been produced and recorded by long-time Present sound engineer Udi Koomran, whose roots run very deep in the avant-garde/RIO communities, his contribution made for an impeccable recording. Add to this the brilliant musicianship and the incredibly original music and it's easy to see why these guys are the talk of the prog community right now. This album is a must for any RIO fan, and great new music to be discovered by any progressive music fan.

My rating for Kundabuffer : 8.9/10(album reviewed by Robert Dansereau 21/01/2006)