Embryo

*2023 stock* This album is a bit difficult to pigeonhole, as most of the early Embryo work is. The opening number sounds if anything, like an outtake from Miles Davis' Jack Johnson soundtrack, but with lead guitar sound more prominant. Then, gears are switched, and you are listening to acoustic folk guitar and sitar, which melts into a cool ostenato riff flanging around, that just builds and builds, with countermelody on Violin (or Veena?) and guitar weaving in and out, along with the drum parts. The song ends back at the acoustic guitar passage it started at, with a flute playing the main theme. After that, a funky little number dances out of the speakers. Its the end of the first side of the album, and yrics are heard for the first time. But lyrics are not what Embryo is about. In fact, I always hear their lyrics, as something more as slogans, employed not unlike the heads of jazz songs. An idea is anounced, and a hook perhaps implied, and then......the singing ends, and the jamming begins. (The singing on the song that has it, lasts less than a half minute.) This song, King Insano, is written by David King, the newest Embryo member, who played on this album, and disappeared. Again, this is a funk song, with guitar leads built on top. A lot more negative space is used here, and when the guitar solo all but disappears, a dense, thickly textured latin like drum/percussion solo slides into prominance.

It is interesting, that there seems to be no bass on this album. (No bass player is listed, and no bass listed on the instruments the musicians are using.) Perhaps when you have a drummer like Burchard, his bass drum becomes all the bass you need. Oddly, you never even notice the bottom end lacking in bass guitar. Had that been put into the mix, the sound would have become too chaotic, and possibly muddy. So much of this album has a chill out vibe too it, not found in the band before. Naturally, the songs don't linger on the ambient side of things. Rather, its more of a sense of dynamics, tempo and texture that brings a bit of ambience into the soundscapes.' - W.T. Hoffman