Norwegian band Gazpacho is an amazing outfit, even before you consider their music. Night is the fourth album in five years by a band that has yet to sign to a label and whose members all work full-time. The boys from Oslo accrued a groundswell of support from MySpace, word of mouth, the band’s website and a growing band of fans who enthusiastically post to a multitude of online forums. This has led them to support neo-prog legends Marillion on the European leg of their Marbles tour. This exposure not only created demand for the new album, but also ensured that a new legion of fans would be there to buy it when it was released three weeks ago.

Many people class Gazpacho (named for a Spanish soup made from diverse ingredients) as neo-progressive rock. But limiting them to one label is a gross disservice. The best description I can arrive at is “classical post-ambient nocturnal atmospheric neo-progressive folk-world rock”. Anyone expecting bombastic, self-indulgent progressive rock with sizzling ten minute virtuoso solos is bound to be disappointed. Instead, you get deliciously textured and layered sounds, augmented by ambient keyboards, sublime use of space and a band collaborating to produce a tapestry of music woven with subtly hued threads.

Parts are reminiscent of Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Marillion, Order of Strategic Influence, Mike Oldfield, Porcupine Tree, Boards of Canada, Davy Spillane and Chroma Key, but the sound is not derivative. Throw ambient samples, classical segues, folk and world music into the mix, and finding an appropriate genre box just gets tougher.

Night is a 53-minute concept album, divided into five parts. Following a night’s worth of dreams, Night explores dreams, reality and the boundaries (or lack therof) between the somnambulant and the waking states in a majestic, emotive, nocturnal opus that is an emotional listening experience. This is not an album to listen to while cooking dinner or driving to the shops. This is a lie on the floor with the lights out and your head between the speakers composition.

Haunting, ethereal, uplifting, melancholic, powerful and complete, Gazpacho’s Night is a dish to be savoured, where every mouthful of glorious noise is another nuance to experience. Romantic, rich, sparse, full, like velvet; this is not an album to listen to; it is an album to embrace like a lover. Make no mistake, Night is a landmark album. In years to come, this is the moment musicologists will pinpoint when ambient, progressive and post rock melded in a symphony of surpassing beauty.

5/5

Peter Ryan