After his fourth solo sublime masterpiece Everything To Everyone (2022, see review), lead guitarist and composer Bjorn Riis returns with a four track EP called A Fleeting Glimpse. It is no secret that Riis is a Pink Floyd adept and on this new EP he lets his inspiration from that notorious band really come forth in full force. A Fleeting Glimpse contains a mere four tracks and to me the two instrumentals A Voyage To The Sun and Summer Meadows are THE highlights of this, too short, album! A Voyage To The Sun, clocking in over seven minutes, has an intriguing intro, very atmospheric with a keys/organ sound reminding me of the old Pink Floyd song Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun from the album A Saucerful Of Secrets, released way back in 1968! At the 2:05 mark of this track Riis starts an exquisite guitar solo, ending at 4:28, which has David Gilmour written all over it, glorious indeed and setting the tone for this first-rate instrumental song! Summer Meadows opens with birds singing, piano passages and acoustic guitar picking, but luckily after two minutes you can enjoy again a soaring, emotional, very atmospheric guitar solo, making this track the second best of this album indeed! The last track is called Dark Shadows Part 2 and this one revisits all of the vibes of the other three tracks and Riis's solo (from 3:05 till the end) is again very melodic, dramatic, and Gilmour-like in the veins of the Floyd classic Dogs from Pink Floyd's best album Animals! Three excellent songs in the pocket on this EP, however the opening track Dark Shadows Part 1 features horrendous wordless improvised vocals (read horrible screaming) from singer Durga McBroom (ex-Pink Floyd backing vocalist). These dreadful vocals remind me of the worst Pink Floyd track ever The Great Gig In The Sky (Dark Side Of The Moon) where vocalist Claire Torry ruins one of the best Floyd albums with her wordless screaming on that track! But if you skip the opening track, then you can enjoy three more than excellent guitar driven songs, showing the excellent guitar playing of mister Riis! **** Martien Koolen (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
