Short Reviews [Colouratura - 2023 - "WTF Was That?!"]

When I reviewed Colouratura’s third album, ‘Black Steeple Church’ (2021), I bemoaned the state of the progressive community in that when looking on PA I could see the only review up there for their second album, 2018’s ‘Unfamiliar Skies’, was mine. Here I am in 2024 and there are still no other reviews for those two albums, nor any for this one, which was released in October 2023. The problem is, at least to my mind, is that the vast majority of progheads in the world only listen to bands who were around Seventies, then there is a further subset who go into the Eighties, then a further subset who go to bands they already know or include musicians who they know from elsewhere. Then there are people like me who are fortunate enough to hear music from a much wider spectrum and have the issue of attempting to work out how to convey our feelings about it. As with their last album, the core of the band is still the trio of Ian Beabout (backing vocals, microKORG synth, flute, field recordings, Theremin, lead vocals), Nathan James (bass, lead vocals, backing vocals, keyboard & synths, acoustic guitar), and Derek Pavlic (guitars, viola, Mellotron & synths, glockenspiel, vocoder) along with a few guests. They are deemed by PA to be crossover, but here it is more in what they are doing as opposed to the crossover genre itself as here they are bringing in neo along with a healthy dose of the blues and reality which gives the music a real edge and presence. This does not seem like a modern recording at all, as there is something about it which cries analogue as opposed to digital and playing a download just seems wrong as this should be vinyl, nothing less. It is impossible to express just how important the realism is to this album, as one get the impression of the guys being in the studio and just hitting record as opposed to scrutinising every last note and then sanitising the death out of it. This is music which has been allowed to breathe and move in whatever direction it needs to. It is a very songs-based release, but one never knows where it is going to go so consequently one stays interested throughout as there is a real passion at play, a desire to do what they want to as opposed to attempting to fit inside any particular box. This is a step up from their last release in every way, as the band cross the genres to create something quite different to the rest of what is being released in the genre. Hopefully, when I come to write about their next release mine will not be the only reviews on PA – they certainly deserve far more attention than they appear to be receiving.