Vespero- Rito
(R.A.I.G R024)
From Aural Innovations #38 (Jan 2008)
Despite their Italian sounding name, Vespero are actually a six-piece psychedelic
Krautrock and progressive rock influenced combo from Astrakhan in Southern Russia.
There’s lots of spacey, electronic goodness to the music of Vespero (three
of the members play keyboards and synths), but they are all multi-instrumentalists
as well, so along with the electronics comes bass, drums, flute, guitars, violin,
whispers, and wordless vocals to create quite a dazzling display of atmospheric
space rock. Although I admit, part of me is inclined to not quite call this
space rock. Don’t get me wrong, it does rock in parts, but guitar is often
sparse (though effectively used), and the music tends to rely more on texture
and rhythm than jamming on riffs. Leads are often taken by instruments such
as violin and flute, or by the wordless vocalizations of Natalya Tjurina and
Karnelia Mango. In fact though, the members of Vespero draw more inspiration
from the classic Krautrock artists, who attempted to distance themselves from
Western blues-based rock. But Vespero shies away from a retro approach by incorporating
subtle uses of modern dance rhythms, complex jazz stylings, and dub-style syncopation
into their sound as well, courtesy of the outstanding and quite versatile drumming
of Ivan Fedotov.
There are definitely hints of Gong in their sound, and sometimes they remind
me a bit of Ozric Tentacles, but that doesn’t really get to the core of
Vespero’s sonic domain. The fact is, I haven’t ever really heard
anything quite like the music on Rito. The band has forged their own distinctive
identity musically and the results are quite breathtaking. Highly recommended!
Check the band's web sites at: http://www.myspace.com/vesperomusic
or http://www.raig.ru/vespero.asp#R024
(in English) and http://vesperpages.nightmail.ru/
(in Russian).
Check out the record label site at: http://www.raig.ru
Reviewed by Jeff Fitzgerald