BEDD TRACKS (E)

The Living are a bunch of classically trained and thus skillful Canadian musicians who want to explore artistic freedom in rock music, blending influences of composers like Maurice Ravel and Igor Strawinsky with primal rhythms and rock from bands like Muse, Queen, Mahavishnu Orchestra and artists like Björk and Karnivool. Between this EP and the present day, the line-up changed. On the EP were next to Mike Bell (vocals, keyboards, drums) and Elyse Jacobson (violin), Jason Nett (guitars, bass), Ali Sadat (drums), Jeremy Vint (trumpet) and Alyssa Stevenson (flute). The current line-up consists of Bell, Jacobson, Tom Geldschläger (guitars), Martin Rose (bass) and Finlay Panter (drums, vocals). The first track Eye Of The Day opens with echoing guitars in a somewhat jazzy mood, but when Bell cranks up his voice, the violins and heavy riffs turn up and the sound becomes a crossover between Kansas and Mahavishnu Orchestra. Difficult and ever changing rhythm patterns and an interlude featuring the violin in a folky kind of style, make this track both intriguing and interesting. Next to some influences from Oriental music, a part is in Kansas-style combining violin and lead guitar solos. More jazz at the beginning of Take The Reins, when smooth bas playing is combined with a shuffling rhythm, flutes and Bell singing like Frank Sinatar or Perry Como in the late fifties. Even some moments remind me of Matt Bianco. The choruses are more in the rock genre and there's a major role for the trumpet in the last part, followed by jazz-rock with a superb guitar solo. A bit more experimental, combining avant-garde with rock is Real?. The almost cacophonic fragments are a strange combination of Queen-oriented rock with a classical piano trying to break through the wall of bass, the 'orchestra', drums and electric guitars. At the end you'll hear a piece of classical piano. The fourth and final track is Global Citizen, a bit like the first one with varying styles and rhythms, but the main themes are rock music influenced by Kansas and alternated by a delightful piece of soft orchestral music and a gentle violin. Bell, with his pleasant mid to high range voice comes back and heavy guitars with a soloing violin give the track a harder rocking edge.

I'm not sure if I should call The Living a project or a band, but what I'm sure of is that Bell and Jacobson have plenty of original ideas and I'm eager to hear what the full-length album will sound like. Having said that, I realize the music could just as easily go in the direction of getting too experimental or freaky for my taste but I hope the melodic, more classically oriented influences will prevail. Interesting music from Canada!