UnonoU

Danava

Kemado

2008-02-18

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Danava’s UnonoU is not just a mouthful but an often engrossing showboat of glam-tinged early 1970s hard-edged prog laced with theatricality and cloaked in period production. Right from the off in the title track, the band offer riffs straight out of the Deep Purple or Black Sabbath songbook, but with heavy development perhaps more akin to Wishbone Ash, a comparison felt also in the vocals, which similarly feel a little Eno-esque, fitting nicely with the ballroom quirk felt in several tracks.

Signed to NYC label Kemado alongside the similarly prog-minded act Preistbird they differ from these label mates, who take a modern and ninetines-influenced sound and production values and align themselves with groups like Witchcraft who look to recreate not just the mood of the eras from which they take influence but attempt the same distinct sound. And Davana often succeed in making UnonoU feel like it could be some crazy 1971 Vertigo rarity you’ve just stumbled across.

UnonoU feels like it could be some crazy 1971 Vertigo rarity you’ve just stumbled across

The bluesy hard-rock is often steered on journeys with riffs falling into other riffs and loud, ballsy solos spiralling into the sky or keyboards swamping the guitars and signalling shifts to new terrain. Moog work increases as the album gets a few tracks in — its arpeggios cueing the building roller of third track “The Emerald Snow of Sleep”. The aforementioned ballroom glam is most felt in the Eno meets Syd Barrett rock ballad whimsy of “A High or a Low”. The riffs hit back harder though on the album’s remaining and yet more epic tracks, though never limiting development — instead working to frame the synth ambience into horror-movie mental middle half of “Down From a Cloud, Up From The Ground” for example. The final and longest track though, “One Mind Gone Separate Ways” takes this Moog horror score/heavy rock mix even further, making you realise that although Zombi are perhaps all the more impressive for recreating the exploitation film score with their limited instrumental arrangements, there is a lot to be said for the full band arrangements that Goblin offered. Though this is not merely a Goblin pastiche, as the British rock groups referenced at the outset remain very much a part of the important verse sections, and when the solo kicks in this is pure classic rock territory. And there’s brass elsewhere too.

There is a weird amalgamation of styles on UnonoU that is comparable to the art/biker rock of Blue Oyster Cult — a comparison which the showmanship that the music demonstrates also works with. This is a fascinating record — by no means merely curio, though perhaps a little too niched to find a huge audience. Whatever, it certainly offers a great listen.