Osada Vida - Uninvited Dreams

(CD 2009, 65:10, Metal Mind Records, MMP CD 0674)

The tracks:
  1- Uninvited Dreams(8:14)
  2- My Nightmare Is Scared Of Me(10:24)
  3- Childmare (A Goodnight Story)(10:17)
  4- Lack Of Dreams(13:02)
  5- Is This Devil From Spain?(2:12)
  6- Is That Devil From Spain Too?(9:35)
  7- Neverending Dream(11:16)

Osada Vida Website        samples        Metal Mind Productions


Osada Vida is probably one of the most interesting Polish prog metal bands of this moment. Their third album Uninvited Dreams is a ?must have? for all lovers of classic prog metal in the vein of bands like Porcupine Tree, Pain Of Salvation and Evergrey. The album is dominated by the fantastic guitar work of Bartek Bareska (see interview below). His solos, especially in songs like Childmare and Lack Of Dreams, are utterly stunning!

Uninvited Dreams is a concept album dealing with the fascination of dreams and nightmares. Musically you could say that Osada Vida?s music is rather complex as it is a blend of rock, metal, jazz, fusion, prog and even electronics. The album has only one rather simple and tiresome track, namely Is This Devil From Spain?, the rest is excellent stuff.

Absolute highlights are the epics Lack Of Dreams and Childmare. The latter kicks off with a rather heavy prog metal intro followed by many funky passages and a long and amazing guitar solo. Lack Of Dreams opens with pounding drums, followed by Eastern-like guitar work. In the middle section of this fantastic track you are treated to a breathtaking Latin-like guitar solo. Neverending Dream kicks off with a rather jazzy and funky intro, but features again an extremely melodic well-played guitar solo. All in all, this is definitely the best Osada Vida album so far. Buy or die!

**** Martien Koolen (edited by Peter Willemsen)

Where to buy?


Interview Bartek Bereska of Osada Vida


“On this album, we concentrate on dreams that people preferably want to forget”


(Text by Martien Koolen, edited by Peter Willemsen, pictures from Osada Vida website)



Osada Vida is a Polish prog metal band formed by two friends: drummer Adam Podzimski and bassist Lukasz Lisiak. They recorded their debut album in 2000 and right from the start the band got raving reviews. Later on guitarist Bartek Bereska joined the band and since then Osada Vida has been a quartet. In 2008, they released The Body Parts Party. Now the band return with their fifth full length album called Uninvited Dreams (see review above), a mixture of prog, rock and metal. Especially the guitar solos on this album are sheer magic. It’s time for a chat with Bartek Bereska for Background Magazine.



Uninvited Dreams is a concept album. Can you tell me what the concept is all about?

“Basically the lyrics on this album are about dreams and nightmares that haunt us while we’re sleeping and stay with us while we’re fully awake. The kind of nightmares that repeatedly return, terrify night after night and even influence our lifes. On this album, we concentrate on dreams that people preferably want to forget. The concept was created by Adam and his wife. They wrote all the lyrics for Uninvited Dreams as well.”
Bartek Bereska

What are the main differences between this new album and the previous ones?

“Music wise Uninvited Dreams is a natural continuation of what we’ve done on the previous albums. On Three Seats Behind A Triangle, we started to incorporate different genres in our music like jazz, funk and ambient. The Body Parts Party is more melodic and a bit simpler, but I really love that album. On Uninvited Dreams we went further in enriching our music by, let me say, ‘strange sounds’, that is: sounds that are not often used on progressive rock albums. In this case, the songs came out while we were jamming. Previously, everyone - mostly Lukasz Lisiak - brought in some tunes that were interpreted and polished by the other band members. This time the music was created ‘on fire’, while rehearsing. Lyrically spoken, all the albums are conceptualized strongly, but the differences are considerable. Three Seats Behind A Triangle is a story about people with dreams and desires concerning the future and how life judges their dreams. The Body Parts Party is not that linear. The songs are connected to each other by some convention that constitutes a part of a single story. Uninvited Dreams is different, but it’s still a ‘multi-dimensional’ analysis of human beings. This time it’s about our dreams which sometimes say more about us than we think.”

On this album the guitar riffs and solos are dominant which I like very much. Was this done on purpose?

“Thanks. No, it wasn’t done on purpose. Well, I mean we were fully aware of what we were doing of course, but it really came out spontaneously. We didn’t calculate anything like ‘let’s play these riffs and people will buy it!” (laughing)
 

In my humble opinion, the vocal parts on this album are a bit weak or soft. Do you agree?

“It’s just the way we would like to have our vocals recorded on this album. We regard the vocals as a fifth instrument. Some people like it; others don’t.”

The lyrics of the new album are rather sad even a bit depressive. Why is that?

“Because the concept is about dreams and nightmares that are highly uninvited, that’s why. There is a kind of sadness and worry in these nightmares. Maybe our next album will be about dreams we would like to have. The so-called ‘invited’ dreams about beautiful women, fast cars, fast money and so on…, but yet this album deals with the uninvited dreams.”

Are you mainly an optimist or a pessimist?

“I would call myself an optimist, but with a realistic approach.”

Did you ever think about using Polish lyrics?

“On previous demo albums Magda sang in Polish, but we decided to use only the English language. Polish is a difficult language for most people outside Poland. Well, it doesn’t sound that good, you know.” 

Osada Vida

What’s your favourite track on the new album and why?

“Well, personally I like Childmare the best, I think. In this piece you here every aspect of what Osada’s all about.”

What are your main musical influences?

“As a band we’ve got many influences. Starting from rock, prog rock and metal bands like Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Pain Of Salvation, Dream Theater, Rush, Yes, King Crimson, Asia, Deep Purple, etcetera, through some jazzier, funkier music with fusion elements like Tribal Tech, Return To Forever, Weather Report, SBB, but also Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Esbjorn Svensson Trio, Pat Metheny and John Scofield. Not to mention all the pop and R&B stuff. Well, as you can see this is an endless list that goes on and on. Really, we see no sense in limiting ourselves to one style of music; that’s just the way we are.”

What kind of music do you listen to in your car or at home?

“Exactly the same music as I just listed as our sources of inspirations. To be honest, I don’t like listening to the radio. There’s too much so-called news on the radio.”

Could you tell me something about the history and the development of Osada Vida?

“The band was formed in 1997 by Adam Podzimski and Lukasz Lisiak, two friends studying at the same university. Next Rafal Paluszek (keyboards) joined the band and then singer Magda Hajda. Between times the band had some perturbations, but the present line-up was finally created in 2005 and hasn’t changed since then. The previous line-up of Osada Vida is reminiscent of some old progressive rock bands, like Rush, Yes, King Crimson and Pink Floyd. As time passed, I joined the band and we started to play heavier, but we also incorporated more jazzy, ambient and electronic elements in our music. We’re still developing, so no one knows where our music will finally lead us…”

How is the prog scene at the moment in Poland?

“We’ve got a really strong prog scene in Poland with bands like Riverside, Indukti, Quidam and Satellite, all widely known. However, younger bands start making a noise out there like Animations, Division By Zero and Retrospective just to name a few. This scene is still growing and Poland is going to be a well-known country as far as progressive rock music is concerned.”

Are there already plans for a DVD?

“No, we don’t intend to record a DVD at the moment, but that may change of course.”

What are your plans for the future?

“We would like to play as many gigs as possible, because making music is what we’re living for.”

Can we expect Osada Vida to perform some gigs in The Netherlands in the near future?

“Oh yes, we would like to visit The Netherlands, but some things are not on us to decide. However, I really hope it will once happen playing some gigs in your beautiful country.”

Thank you for answering my questions and good luck with the new album.

“You’re welcome, thank you.”

Martien Koolen









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