Gryphon

Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection.
There is something about the music on Malicorne's album `Le Bestiaire' (roughly translated to `The Animals') that transports me to another space and time.

Greek progressive rock band Ciccada has released this, its third album, Harvest. The bands influences are very much the progressive rock acts of the 1970’s, including very classy bands such as Camel, Jethro Tull, Gryphon, Gentle Giant, Strawbs, Renaissance, Hatfield And The North, Curved Air and Spirogyra. These are lushly interwoven with traditional Greek folk music. The resulting sound is a quite pastoral other-worldliness, bathed in rock, jazz and folk colours.
The overall sound sees the band balancing acoustic instruments with electric ones, allowing the music a seeming simplicity whilst actually being somewhat more profound. At times there’s an almost childlike air on display, then something more jazzy but playful, then the kind of piquancy that a heartfelt folk song can produce. The vintage prog-rock and the folk in many ways makes this a nostalgic, wistful sounding album…