Dawn - Loneliness - 2007
“... I dream about living ...”
intro
The Swiss band Dawn recorded two demos in the period between 2002 and 2006. Also the band managed to perform on the Progsol Festival in Montreux and is booked for the Prog Sud Festival in France. They have even opened gigs for bands like Fish and Kansas. The band surprised me with their mature debut album “Loneliness” which was recorded in 2007.line-up
Patrick Dufresne - drums (on “Loneliness”)
review
The album “Loneliness” is about life: dawn and dusk; ups and downs. The album is well balanced through the combination of some shorter tracks and some longer ones like “The story of nobody” (17:53) and “The brook” (11:21). The band has a modern sound with a vintage touch. Nicolas Gerber has a big role in this by using the sounds of old analog keyboards like the Mellotron and Korg synthesizers.
The album opens with the track “Dawn” which starts with a melody on synthesizer and a delicious fat bass. The first thing that you will notice are the nice melodies, the catchy vocal refrains and the clear and transparent sound of the open production. Sadly this is not the case with most of the debut albums nowadays. So my compliments to Dawn and their production team. Also considered that this is an independent release! Those first synthesizer notes reminds me of the early work of German band Eloy who in the early days released an album titled “Dawn” ... coincidence?
The guitar sound in the slow opening of “Rain on the moon” is a little bit influenced by Camel's guitarist Andy Latimer. Long sustained notes, and in combination with the organ the sound also reminds me of the Dutch band Focus. The composition is slowly building towards a climax in the end. Great song!
“The brook” is one of the longer tracks on this album. It starts a little bit experimental with some industrial sounds. Combined with the piano and the acoustic guitar it gives a good contrast. Later on the experimental sounds will return while the music slowly gets more body and becomes more intense. I like the sounds of the vintage keyboards and guitar which lies on top of the strong and steady rhythmsection Because of the open production the sound is clear and transparent. So you can hear every instrument. In the end you can enjoy a nice synth solo. A strong and diverse composition.
The slow title track “Loneliness” has beautiful melodies. The guitar solo with the long sustained notes brings back again sweet memories of Camel and Focus. I wonder if the band knows the music of the later.
The magnum opus of the album is called “The story of nobody” and starts with strong drum work. For me me this track is the highlight of the album. It has some great instrumental parts and the vocals sung by guitarist René Degoumois are very strong. The song is working towards a climax ... this is how I like my progmusic! The earlier mentioned references to the music of Focus and Camel you can also hear in this great track.
The album closes with the track “Dusk”. The vocals are combined with a delicate piano and the Mellotron strings. These nice melodies are a worthy ending of a remarkable debut album.
conclusion
The band Dawn surprised me with their debut album “Loneliness”. A well produced mature album with a vintage sound. Despite the references to the mentioned bands (Focus, Camel) Dawn has managed to create their own sound. For a debut album the results are astonishing.
Good music with nice melodies and moods.
For me the album “Loneliness” of Swiss band Dawn is one of the best debut albums in years!
I'm also a little bit surprised that the Swiss proglabel Galileo Records didn't picked up the band Dawn. But no complains towards Galileo Records because that label just released two fantastic new albums. The first one is from the Italian band Moongarden (“Songs from the lighthouse”) and the second one from the Swedish band Simon Says (“Tardigrade”). Stay tuned to progVisions!