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Volare - The Uncertainty Principle

Artist:	Volare
Title:	The Uncertainty Principle
Label:	The Laser's Edge
Length(s):	61 minutes
Year(s) of release:	1997
Month of review:	11/1997

Line up

Patrick Strawser - keyboards, synths
Steve Hatch - guitars, mandolin
Richard M. Kesler - bass, saxophone
Brian Donohoe - drums, etc.

Tracks

1)	Caught In A Combine	4.33
2)	Abcircus	6.35
3)	Blitz	8.47
4)	One Minute Of Thought...	3.50
5)	Midnight Clear	5.04
6)	...in Two Seconds Of Time...	8.12
7)	Vespers	7.21
8)	...(Incomplete, Broken And Abstract)	6.03
9)	Cropcircles	4.29
10)	Black And White	6.34

Summary

After two tapes (one of which was generally available) the band has released their debut on Laser's Edge.

The music

Not surprisingly the band has continued to fare the waters of progressive jazz rock reminiscent of Happy The Man but even more the Canterbury scene including references to National Health and Hatfield and the North (in fact like they advertise on a sticker on the jewel box). It is funnny that the Canterbury scene both consists of bands that musically are usually called pretentious and ethereal while on the other hand they have unmistakable a very English sense of humour and do not seem to take themselves very seriously.

Caught In A Combine (one of the more happier moments in life) combines the typical ingredients of progressive jazz rock: jazzy guitar solo's and Fender Rhodes. The band creates soothing atmospheres with lots of variation in sound, atmosphere and melody making sure that each of the track bursts with numerous melodies and it seems you can only listen to i as though you are carried on as on a river of themes and riffs. Most of the time the band is soft spoken and calm but at times the guitar especially can rip through this encompassing stillness and subtlety.

Abcircus is a particularly nice track with experimentation on the keyboard and a soft Camel like, melodic interlude. The song also has some circus references that are a little more joyful than the rest of this sometimes chaotic track.

Opening with mellotron, Blitz is the next one up. After almost a minute the song breaks into what seems to be the theme of this track. The guitar sound is at times raw and distorted and at others high and ethereal. There is a large dose of repetition in this track, over which the other instruments can then play their solo.

One Minute Of Thought... is a rather slow track in the vein of the band, while in Midnight Clear we have an encounter with the saxophone, which has taken over the part of the guitar, playing a nice and soothing melody. A friendly track in the dreamy Camel style, but a little more jazzy.

...In Two Seconds Time... seems to be the continuation of One Minute Of Thought... . As well as saxophone there's also a large acoustic guitar and organ presence (and of course the standard ingredients).

I'm not a religious person myself, but I do occasionally visit church (with my family in law) and then only the Vespers, since they fortunately talk very little, but sing the more. I was hoping for a little Gregorian chants on this one, but alas. In the middle part we get some march like rhythms and in the end the band almost lets itself go.

...(Incomplete, Broken, and Abstract) seems to close the trilogy of One Minute etc. The guitar sound is a little different here with some wah-wah added and after the keyboards go over the top we get a rather standard jazzrockish part with some saxophones being strangled. Cropcircles has a nice eruption towards the end and in my opinion the band might take this route a little more often. The album ends with Black And White, a track that is both rather fast paced and at first sounds a little frolic.

Oh yes, and compliments for the funny artwork.

Conclusion

In a way the music of the Canterbury scene is either thoroughly quircky and tongue-in-cheek or sounds intellectual and in this case both seem to be the case. There's little of the straightforward emotions in the music, but the Fender has a warm sound and the melodic influencess of Camel also enhance this. I think the music can best be described as flowing and organic with the necessary rough edges to prevent you from falling asleep. Because of these more melodic influences the music of Volare will fall better with the non-initiated than bands such as National Health and such and because of their more softspoken approach they will in all probability be better liked than more hard edged proponents such as Happy Family. All in all a worthwhile album for lovers of the genre, but although this band is not that hard to get into, it is still advisable to try and give it a listen first. Keywords: fluent, melodic and subtle.