Saturnia - The Seance Tapes

Elektrohasch Schallplatten (Elektrohasch 175)

 Saturnia from Portugal has been a one-man space/psych/prog rock/electronic band by multi-instrumentalist and singer Luis Simões. I've been following his magnificent work since the debut album The Glitter Odd released in 2001 and have been enjoying every bit of it. Live appearances with guest musisicians have been sadly very rare and I've been waiting for years to experience Saturnia's heady, mesmerising and trippy music on a gig. Now my chances seem to have enhanced since Luis has formed a three-man live band with a drummer and a keyboardist.

The Seance Tapes is a sort of rehearsal for the trio's live gigs as well as a best of Saturnia. It includes some of the best tracks from all the six Saturnia albums and they do sound amazing played live in the studio and mixed really well. There are 12 tracks in total and I just love all of them. Some of my favourites include the pounding "I Am Utopia", raga-like "The Real High" and the hypnotic "Mindarama", so I guess you could say I prefer the stuff released since 2007. Having said that, all the previous albums have their amazing moments and tracks. All in all, this is a marvellous, magical and very well produced album that just makes me drool for an oppurtunity to see the band live. Available on CD and soon also on 2LP!

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