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Stella Polaris

Stella Polaris is yet another project by the ever proficient Stone Premonitions crew and I must say that as much as I have liked all their previous releases this definitely is one of the best. Featured on the album are the main man guitarist Tim Jones together with the keyboard wizard Dave Hendry (Ohead), the drums are played by Kevin Thomson and on one track by Paddi and The Reverend Rabbit takes care of the bass duties and also sings on one track on this otherwise instrumental album. Jones and Hendry have very wisely left lots of space for psychedelic, hypnotic jamming driven by the excellent guitar work as well as the spacey synthesizers and keyboards. We've got both Pink Floyd-styled, dreamy space rock and cosmic ambient journeys and even more.

"Off with Their Heads" begins the album with its slow but effective going that brings to mind DSOTM era Pink Floyd and includes lots of great solo guitar work. Amazing! The soloing continues on the more ambient number "Ephadream" that only has a bit of rhythm. "Diocin & Widderhins" is more rocking stuff again although there is a floating sequence in the middle. The album's longest track is the funnily entitled "So What if They've Got Tee Shirts in Denmark" that is pleasant, spacey gliding with a little bit of beat. "Remembrance" is a shorter, peaceful and melancholic piece and after that the more normal rock number "Retroglide" brings in some more positive vibes. "The Man Who Never Was" is softer stuff again and "Givin' It Large" is the album's sole vocal track and also has some percussion. "Givin' It Large" continues the relaxed line and includes for example some very psychedelic, echoed guitar as well as small-scale rhythm. The album ends with the excellent "We're All Egyptians Now" that has a great, mind-expanding atmosphere and ends in a really far-out manner. Another superb album from the Stone Premonitions label again and I wish there would be more stuff like this! I can recommend this to all the space rockers and prog heads.

(DJ Astro - Psychotropic Zone)
http://www.unimeri.com/PsychotropicZone