Looking for something completely different? Try Mark Van Overmeire's Impresiones. Van Overmeire is a Belgian musician who spent four years in South America. His personal journey is communicated through the musical travelogue that is Impresiones. Van Overmeire's musical influences are not easy to detect, but if Peter Gabriel had recorded The Pat Metheny Group at Real World Studios, Impresiones might be the result. If I could only use one word to describe the outcome, I might use the term intoxicating. Van Overmeire and his band effortlessly combine jazz, world, folk and even classical music. In lesser hands, such disparate musical shifts would be a major distraction, but Impresiones treats these stylistic differences as if they somehow belong together.
Take the eleven minute multi movement "La Danza De Los Emigrantes" for example. A beautiful prelude of massed cellos gives way to an infectious and uplifting dance between Van Overmeire's classical guitar and Jozef Dumoulin's jazz tinged piano over a sympathetic rhythm section. During the second movement, the piece introduces some percussion programming which in turn heralds in an entirely new and romantic melody. This is beautiful stuff.
Album opener "Cotopaxi" likewise manages to be melodic, moody and pretty. A haunting cello and some wind effects made me think I was in for some New Age "relaxation" but thankfully, "Cotopaxi" is engaging and not New Age at all. Instead, the piece is sort of an orchestral jazz blend.
"A Bokher un a Meydl" is a gorgeous and enchanting dance track that marries a tango beat to klezmer music. In another world, or at the very least Argentina (the country that inspired the piece), the song could be a hit single. I am a sucker for indigenous folk music and "A Bokher un a Meydl" has me completely enchanted.
Mark Van Overmeire has really captured the spirit of South America on Impresiones in some original and exciting ways. Here's hoping his current trip to Asia will yield similar results for his next CD. The Indiana Jones of world music, perhaps? Excellent.
Track Listing
- Cotopaxi (8:18)
- Patagonia (3:37)
- La Danza De Los Emigrantes (11:20)
- Titicaca (3:06)
- A Bokher Un a Meydl (5:58)
- Os Meninos Inocentes (8:04)
Total Time 40:52
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