Numerical ratings are valuable, but it’s nearly impossible to give fair ones, so I for a while I won’t be assigning them.
“Birds of Passage” – Karfagen
Symphonic Prog
Every year you’re guaranteed to miss some great releases due to the sheer amount of material out there. Unfortunately, even things that make their way to you can still fail to make an impact for whatever reason. This was the case for the stunning Echoes From Within Dragon Island which didn’t get the true opportunity to shine for me until recently. Luckily I’m able to make up for my failure by listening to both it and Karfagen’s newest release based on the poetry of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and William Blake.
Karfagen first came into existence in 1997 while Antony Kalugin was in school and he began to craft his compositions until they were ready for the world, releasing his first album in 2006. Less than 15 years later, his eleventh work Birds of Passage is out to ring in the new year. While certainly nothing to scoff at, Birds is noticeably shorter than it’s predecessor. Frankly, I think this is for the better. Both releases hinged on a central suite with additional tracks tagged on to the end. While these additional tracks are undeniably good, they don’t always feel necessary. I think they might be the reason that I struggled to get into Echoes as they inflated it to an unwieldy size, whereas Birds clocks in at under an hour, even with it’s own extra tracks.
Realistically, the meat of this album is the suite that gives it it’s name. Part one begins with an atmospheric swelling that breaks into a slow walk before the lid can truly be blown off. When the song fully kicks in, it’s an airy and whimsical sound befitting of the beautiful cover artwork from Igor Sokolskiy. For an artist focused on instrumentation, the vocals are right at home and the lyrical inserts were selected well. It is still true, though, that Karfagen lives on the instrumentation and Birds of Passage offers a thoroughly rich and entertaining collection to thrive off of. The back half of “(Part 1)” is an especially diverse section that captures what makes Karfagen such an interesting act.
Admittedly, the first part can feel a bit tame at times, which can be at odds with the long run time of the track. However, this allows for the suite to draw the listener in before hitting them with the much more classically prog part 2. Where the first part leans a bit more towards melody and accessability, the second is where Kalugin shows off his composing chops. It’s much more instrumentally focused and makes for a nice foil. Overall, the two songs paint a beautiful world worth revisiting multiple times to experience it all.
However, the three songs at the end proceed to break that world as they don’t really fit into it. They are wonderful in their own right—”Sunrise” especially is simply gorgeous and might be the best instrumental passage on the album—but at the end of the day, as they aren’t part of the suite I don’t know why they were included. “Birds Short Introduction” especially feels rather redundant as it revisits elements of the suite without particularly standing out. It’s a bit of a shame that this excellent album exits on a comparatively lackluster note, but it fails to take away from the overall experience.
Koda Music 