In an interview on the internet, Colombian guitar player Juan Carlos talks about the music of Jaén Kief. He states that the music press has difficulties to classify their varied and experimental progressive rock sound. “It is rock and something more”, he declares, a bit cryptically. However, we could already hear what he meant on Jaén Kief’s debut album Las Hadas No Vuelan Mas I: Vagas Nubes from 2003. I found it a pleasant musical journey and recently I asked myself if the band still exists. Well, they do. The new album has already been recorded in 2006 and now, three years later, French prog rock label Musea distributed the album worldwide. Their second effort sounds more mature and elaborate than their debut. I’m especially delighted about the melodic and pleasant blend of styles combined with that typical Latin-American touch presented by these talented musicians. The atmospheres on Las Hadas II... range from dreamy to up-tempo rock and from classically inspired to folky and 24-carat symphonic rock. Jaén Kief use a great diversity of instruments: the pleasant and often warm Spanish duo-vocals are supported by swinging acoustic rhythm guitar, powerful saxophone, cheerful flute, tender grand piano, fiery and moving electric guitar solos, an adventurous rhythm-section, Spanish guitar and wonderful classical keyboard orchestrations. As I stated above, this album of Jaén Kief is a pleasant, exciting and varied musical journey. The nine beautiful compositions deliver lots of variety, emotion and excellent skills on a wide range of instruments. Especially the long track Tus Suenos De Tul is top-notch prog rock from Latin America. This is a band to discover! ***+ Erik Neuteboom (edited by Peter Willemsen) Where to buy? |
