OVRFWRD: There Are No Ordinary Moments

I was a bit late to the party with OVRFWRD. I didn’t catch their first two albums. Instead, I came in with the third, 2018’s Blurring the Lines … A Democracy Manifest. I quickly corrected the error of my ways and got 2014’s Beyond the Visible Light and 2015’s Fantasy Absent Reason and have been hooked ever since.

Their last album, 2020’s StarStuff, certainly didn’t disappoint. But it seemed that the band might make a big jump with that effort. For that we had to wait for the release of There Are No Ordinary Moments. This is not only OVRFWRD’s most ambitious album, it is also their best. The band always excelled at heavy, note-dense instrumental prog. But they were somewhat less successful when they attempted to enter lighter or jazzier areas. On this album, there is no such problem. The Minneapolis-based band (which still has all four of its original members: Richard Davenport on drums and percussion, Mark Ilaug on guitars, Kyle Lund on bass, and Chris Malmgren on keyboards) shows the full array of its talent, from composition to playing to production.

There are too many highlights on this 10-track, 68-minute album to go through them all. So, I will pick a few particularly noteworthy moments. Let’s start with the opener, “Red Blanket.� It immediately lets you know that this album is going to provide a broader variety of sounds than its predecessors. It’s quite jazzy, reminding me of some of the tracks on King Crimson’s Lizard. That is particularly true because of the use of trumpet by guest player Dave Foley. I also seem to hear some interesting uses of wind instruments as well, but I don’t see a credit for that. Perhaps it’s my ears playing tricks on me.

“Flatlander,� the second shortest song on the album, is in some ways classic OVRFWRD, but it’s even heavier, almost metallic at times. So, it too was a bit of a surprise, a very pleasant one.

I don’t know if you could properly call “Eyota� an epic since it is just 12:40, a little short to garner that designation in many people’s estimations. But let’s call it one anyway. It is broken into six sections, after all. I wasn’t impressed the first few times I listened to it. It seemed meandering. But after several tries, I have come to really like it. In the end, what holds it together are the excellent keyboards.

“Serpentine� is another heavy tune with just great playing. But like most of the other tracks, it also has jazz elements interspersed throughout.

Closing the album is “The Way� and it’s pretty much pure fusion for the first half of the track and almost space rock for the second half. It’s a winner. In fact, I would say nine of the ten tracks on the album are. The only one I couldn’t get into was the very brief “Chateau La Barre.� It’s pretty but very repetitive. It should have either been cut in half, to just over a minute, or omitted altogether.

There Are No Ordinary Moments is a great way to kick off 2024. Hopefully, the band will tour behind it or at least play some festivals. These guys can really bring it live, as anyone who has heard 2018’s Occupations of Uninhabited Space or, better yet, seen them in person can attest. For my money, OVRFWRD might be the best instrumental prog band going.

Track Listing
1. Red Blanket (8:14)
2. Eagle Plains (7:58)
3. The Virtue Of … (5:52)
4. Flatlander (3:14)
5. Tramp Hollow (5:28)
6. Notes of the Concubine (8:20)
7. Eyota (12:40)
8. Chateau La Barre (2:12)
9. Serpentine (6:54)
10. The Way (7:30)

Added: January 19th 2024
Reviewer: Aaron Steelman
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
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Language: english

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