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DECEPTION STORE : PINDARIC FLIGHTS
- Lifetime
- I Do It My Way
- One More Time
- Rock-Star (Meteorite)
- New Bad Day
- Pindaric Flight
- A New World
- Timeline
- Distant Lover
- Close Your Eyes
- Free
Bonus track : - E Immagino Se
Label : MaRaCash
Release Date : November 30, 2021
Length : 44:06
Review (ProgWereld) : Man achter het Italiaanse Deception Store is zanger Marco Pantozzi. Hij heeft alle muziek en teksten geschreven. Alle nummers op “Pindaric Flight” hebben iets met het thema dromen. Allereerst moet ik complimenten maken voor het prachtige artwork. Het lijkt op een oud schilderij dat je ergens in een verwaarloosde loods vindt. Nadat je het stof van de lijst hebt geveegd, blijkt er een prachtig werk achter te zitten. Gelukkig is ook de muziek mooi. Marco Pantozzi omschrijft het zelf als ‘soft-prog-rock met invloeden uit de 70’s en 80’s met Pink Floyd invloeden’. Ik zou het zelf niet beter kunnen omschrijven. Het geheel doet denken aan de muziek van hun landgenoten van Arcansiel, met een vleugje Moon Halo. Maar het is vooral het latere Pink Floyd dat in gedachten komt. Niet dat dit album vol zit met David Gilmour-achtige gitaarsolo’s. Nee, het is meer de algehele melancholische sfeer die aan de legendarische Britse band doet denken. In de regel is de muziek wat ingetogen en warm van karakter. Dat zit hem veelal in de akoestische gitaar die subtiel door het geheel verweven zit. Maar ook door het warme stemgeluid van Marco Pantozzi. Gitarist Stefano Nicli speelt solide, maar naar mijn idee vraagt deze muziek om meer melodische solo’s dan het nu bevat. Toetsenist Joe Chiericati speelt vooral in dienst van het geheel. Als hij wat meer de voorgrond zou pakken, zou de muziek meer aan kracht winnen. Op bonustrack E Immagino Se, wat de Italiaans gezongen versie van I Do It My Way (het tweede nummer van het album) is, klinkt de band op zijn best. In de eigen taal komt deze band veel authentieker uit de verf. Zo zijn alle nummers vriendelijk, sfeervol en melodieus. Het gevaar dat het wat gezapig wordt ligt wel op de loer. Vooral in de tweede helft van het album kabbelt het allemaal wat voort. Dit is een fijn album voor op de achtergrond tijdens je werk of bij een wijntje en een knapperend haardvuur.
Review (Apocalyps Later) : Dreams are important to Marco Pentozzi, the main man behind Deception Store and their debut release, Pindaric Flights. The band name itself, drawn from the final metaphor in One More Time, is about opportunities that you gain by paying dreams but receive only disillusion. The album title is about dreams too, Pindaric flights being flights of fancy, open eyed dreams that drift from one thing to another, echoing the writing style of Pindar, a fanciful ancient Greek lyrical poet. The band are Italian but the key influences are British, their style being that very accessible form of progressive rock pioneered by Pink Floyd. It's built on simple but highly effective grooves that mix a guitar, that knows well that notes not played are often as important as those that are used, with delicate piano and tasteful electronica and it's all performed with effortless elegance. When the voals show up, they're softly delivered but with a knowingness that beckons us into a story. The Floyd influence is obvious from the opener, Lifetime, which is latter day Floyd, the style that dominated for them after David Gilmour took over from Roger Waters as the driving force in the band. That sound continues through a few more songs and never quite goes away, suggesting that they're clearly the most important influence to Pentozzi, who wrote the music and the lyrics that he sings as lead vocalist, as well as to Stefano Nicli who contributes the guitars. Even Teo Ederle's bass fits that, especially late on One More Time. However, Floyd are not the only influence. Rock Star (Meteorite) wanders into Hawkwind territory, especially once it reaches its chorus, there's a moment in New Bad Day that simply screams early Marillion—it could even be Fish on backing vocals—and the title track begins with acoustic guitar very reminiscent of Dust in the Wind, even if the song grows into something else entirely. There's some singer/songwriter stuff here too, A New World reminding as much of Leonard Cohen as Pink Floyd or Marillion and Free adding a laid back Tom Waits at the piano vibe, sans vocals. Timeline, on the other hand, has an alternative feel that kicks in with the opening riff and never quite loses it. It's certainly an album to explore, but the strongest material seems to me to be found early on or right in the middle. It starts well with Lifeline, firmly defines its boundaries, then expands beyond them to Rock Star (Meteorite), New Bad Day and Pindaric Flight. The first half is very strong. But, while it's not unusual for a title track to be the standout, the album's obvious highlight, it doesn't help when it's a pinnacle from which the rest of the album descends. The second half isn't bad, but it isn't a patch on the first and it's where songs just drift away from me. Pindaric Flight doesn't do that because it stays fascinating all the way. It grows impeccably, with a few different sections expanding it. The first three minutes build off that acoustic guitar, flowing vocals alongside it and a gorgeous echoey guitar in counter. Then it shifts tone to a much heavier, if not faster, approach that lends the song some real urgency. But A couple of minutes later, that all falls away so our attention forces back to the vocals again, with more gorgeous distant guitar, before it shifts us into the groove that we think will take us home but doesn't. It's wonderful. I don't want to put down the second half too much, especially as the closer, E Immagino Se, which is the only song to be sung in the band's native Italian, is decent, with a solid contribution from a guest vocalist, Roberta Staccuneddu, who also elevated I Do It My Way early on. It's merely a 6/10 half following a 9/10 track that ends a 8/10 half. The result is still a 7/10 album but I'm more likely to skip half of it in the order it's presented than if the sides had been shuffled somewhat.
Review (Let It Rock) : By looking closely at this album’s cover, you’ll be able to see the picture’s texture which, bearing the image of an intrepid adventurer, conveys the very gist of the record – or, perhaps, the entire project behind it – whose title must suggest veering off into the great unknown and straining the link to reality. “Pindaric Flights” is a loosely concept work that may wear its “Ummagumma”-esque influences on the platter’s sleeve, yet Marco Pantozzi’s reveries find their way to the listener’s heart thanks to his songs’ underlying unplugged sonics and, thus, gripping dynamics, rather than plentiful fantasies offered on the ensemble’s debut. There’s not a lot of philosophy in there, but simple truths bring forth the trills nevertheless. While overt emotionality, so typical for Apennine art-rock, will surface in the album’s finale, “E immagino se” – preceded by the captivating piano passages of “Free” – where Pantozzi’s intimate singing gradually becomes solemn only to get compromised once slow funk and female vocals propose a jovial digression, Joe Chiericati’s anthemic ivories infuse melody-shifting openers “Lifetime” and “I Do It My Way” with welcoming warmth that Stefano Nicli’s soaring guitar takes to marvelous heights before nervousness and urgency slowly set into the drift. However, if a mama-calling intro to “One More Time” evokes certain Roger Waters and Freddie Mercury lines, the ensuing disco glide should remove the initial gloom in favor of scintillating riffs which propel “Rock-Star (Meteorite)” to the edge of bliss, towards the effervescent prog-pop of “New Bad Day” and the folksy, serene-to-anxious, transparency of the titular epic. Still, when the throbbing “A New World” unveil drier emotions, the groove is lighter, feeding the tune of “Timeline” with a glamorous irresistibility, and “Distant Lover” with refined instrumental textures, but “Close Your Eyes” effectively brings this dewy-eyed trip to a close. Self-contained and promising, it’s as alluring a beginning as it can be.