In The Labyrinth Contact

This is an artist I ran across in the midst of a Google frenzy researching a completely unrelated band. This is a rare review of an album I don’t own (yet), but I felt it was worth commenting on. The album is apparently out-of-print, and in fact I wasn’t able to find it listed in any catalogs or on-line sites I’m aware of, but there are some used copies floating around.

In any case, that doesn’t take away from the very positive experience most prog fans will likely have listening to this (assuming they can find it). This isn’t really a band per se; it’s more like a group of acquaintances with similar musical interests who collaborate with Peter Lindahl to produce the occasional offering. Lindahl, in addition to playing a ton of instruments and mixing the album, also appears to be the guy who owns most of the recording equipment. So I guess that means he gets to call the shots. The gnome-like creature on the album cover was painted by him too. In poking around the web I see there are at least three representations of this drawing, try and find them yourself and see if you can spot the differences!

There are strong world-music sensibilities to this album, but don't get the impression that it should be lumped in with Irish drinking songs and African percussion bands and Russian folk tunes and all the other world music CDs in the dusty bins at the public library. It’s a bit more than that. Lindahl and friends apparently have a longstanding interest in several musical styles, many Middle Eastern, and most of which are evident in both the song titles and the music itself. There are Turkish, Indian, and even Mediterranean sounds aplenty, particularly in the rhythms and percussion, but also at times the arrangements swell to a bit of a pompous mood, almost Baroque-like (and of course totally appropriate for any self-respecting progressive work).

The whole album is an extended exploration of represented in the mystical and exotic garden, sort of a slightly Eastern-influenced Alice in Wonderland, I suppose. There are very few vocals actually, so much is left to the imagination.

Overall this is a very strong, mostly instrumental album with several beautiful arrangements that combine all manner of ethnic instruments with modern rock ones (just electric guitar and bass really); plenty of synthesized sounds and mellotron (with numerous different flute sounds); languid tempos; and lots and lots of percussion. Fans of world music, middle-eastern traditional sounds, and even ‘tron fans will more than likely appreciate this album.

No particular tracks stand out (all of them are very good), but a couple are worth menti

oning. “Monsoon” with its moody flute and wistful piano accented by humming female backing vocals and a sole electric guitar is a strong track. This would be great to listen to on a rainy spring afternoon (and someone please tell me where that piano sequence came from, because I know for a fact I’ve heard it before somewhere). “Aral” is mostly synthesized strings and quite a bit different than most of the rest of the album, but does a great job of creating that spacey mood like the still in a storm that brings with it an air of expectation, and really captures one’s attention; and “Ya Qadar” – if you like middle-eastern drums and percussion, this one will really get your feet and hands working.

I’m not totally sure what to make of these guys, but I liked this album enough that I'm purchasing the other two, which can still be found on the artist's web site. I’ve never heard much else quite like these guys, and am looking forward to hearing more. A highly recommended album if you like instrumental music, mellotron, loads of exotic percussion and ethnic instruments, and are willing to get lost inside the mood of an album for an hour or so. Four stars.

IN THE LABYRINTH — The Garden of Mysteries

One common trait specific to Prog is the word "trip" , which of course was coine

d by Timothy Leary and his Moody Blues influenced LSD philosophy. History and Geography have also been a huge source of inspiration for many progressive orchestras throughout the globe, due to the universality of transcending borders and barriers. Hence, our Swedish voyager guides us fellow travellers on this sonic transporter, through stupendous glimpses from all corners of our planet. In lieu of pasports and visas, we are processed via a litteral arsenal of vintage (yes, we do have a mellotron) and modern instruments , an Oldfieldian menu of gargantuan proportions. Departing from the lofty Gates of Andorra, we soar over the torrid Andalucian countryside , veering into the stark Saharan landscape, leaping into the Holy Land , up through Turkey and the submerged ancient city of Kekova, enduring the blistering monsoons of Siam , swerving into the harsh central Asian plains , to finally unwind and land back in Sweden, exhausted and smack in the middle of a Scandinavian shamanic ritual! Phew!! Sweat is dripping into my keyboard! Now, that's what I call a "trip" , a rather ingenious term to describe this musical maze, even when listened to as a backdrop, one cannot help imagining scenes of luxuriant epochs and dreaming of constant adventure. This is not World or New Age music by any stretch . Just another example of how far Prog can stretch the musical envelope.

THE GARDEN OF MYSTERIES

In The Labyrinth are the modern face of that softer side of Swedish progressive rock, in the realms of Isildurs Bane, Mosaic, Bo Hansson et al., subtly symphonic, folky, classical, and above all – distinctly Scandinavian. The group are an unusual quartet. Peter Lindahl would seem to be the leader (he composes on 13 out of 22 tracks) with a credit of some 20 instruments including Mellotron, guitars, zither and various winds, he’s ably accompanied by Mikael Gejel (composer on 11 tracks) playing a mostly acoustic selection of 12 instruments, notably flutes, guitars and percussion, with additional percussion and flute by Ulf Hansson and Karin Langhard-Gejel. In fact, there’s lots of flute on this album come to think of it!

The palette is very colourful and varied, and the music always rides a careful balance between being safely melodic and progressively adventurous. Inevitably, this is going to be one of those “growers”, an album to warm to as its subtleties are revealed.

Alan Freeman, AUDION No.36 19696, England

THE GARDEN OF MYSTERIES

Swedish band that often gets mistakened for a prog rock band. The reason for that was this album was released on the now-defunct APM (Ad Perpetuam Memoriam) label. But actually, their music is world music. Their music, for the most part, tended more towards Middle Eastern and Scandinavian styles. They used modern instruments (guitars, synthesizers, drums, and oddly, they even use some Mellotron), as well as lots of exotic instruments (many Middle Eastern and North African, as well as archic instruments from the R The artist

ENAISSANCE) such as saz, santoor, rebec, sitar, zither, etc.
"The Garden of Mysteries" was apparently released on cassette only in 1994, but when APM got a hold of it in 1996 for a CD release, they included a bunch of extra cuts. The band did a lot of travelling, especially in Egypt. They were obviously fascinated with the sounds of the area, and were able to pick up many exotic instruments (that reads like it came off the Larks in the Morning catalog). As close to prog they sound, is the occasional time they sound like a mellow version of OZRIC TENTACLES (but don't expect intense, mindblowing guitar excursions, and tons of minblowing spacy synthesizers like you do with the OZRICS). The CD also comes with some nice, Nordic influenced artwork (that looks like it should belong on a Bo HANSSON album). Interesting album, regardless if it's prog or not.
Also of note, was the band was to record a followup to "The Garden of Mysteries" for APM, it was to be entitled "Lord of the Mushrooms", but because the label was under financial strains that caused it to go under, the album was never released (I should know, when APM's website used to exist, they advertised for that album, even if it never saw the light of day), in fact they had to find a new label and get a new album released (with a new title).

Review by Proghead for Progarchives
Proghead, Progarchives

consists of a carefully prepared and exciting musical concept, focusing folklore and modernism, not only on a musical basis. This CD projects vivid pictures and moods, emanating from of myths and symbols hidden in the titles of the tracks. An important part of the musical style contained in this album has a clear oriental influence, but the compositions are originals delivered by the group members. The set of music instruments chosen, consists of a variety of traditional, eastern percussion, wind and strings – as well as old and contemporary, western instruments. By purpose, the latter mentioned appear to have a supporting function in most of the arrangements – yet without being anonymous. Saz, Darbouka, traverse-flute, viola da gamba, mandolin, for example are carefully matched with Mellotron, synthesizer and guitars.

Possibly due to their ethnic sensitivity, the band seem to have managed avoiding culture clashes. The motto of this recording is obviously: “All for a homogeneous atmosphere”. The true, profiling solo parts are sometimes so well balanced that they – at least in the beginning – tend to disappear. (They simply exist!) But once you discover them they tend to grow. In other words, this CD offers you a joyful listening that may last awhile. Music by and for globetrotters? THE GARDEN OF MYSTERIES is a weave of gentle harmonics and beautiful melodies – a record that has succeeded in both being easy to listen to – and mysterious, without losing credibility. A well produced CD, not merely referring to the quality of sound. Gates of Andorra is the opening track with its elegant and gentle melody. It introduces the renaissance predecessor of the cello, viola da gamba, to new ears. The CD includes as many as 22 tracks and the total playing time is 74 minutes. Because of lack of ink and space, not all of them will fit in to this review. But it is hard to disregard the value of titles like Aral, Kekova, Moorish waltz, Desert visions, Andalucy, Meditating Minotauros, The garden of mysteries I and II, Escape from Canaan and Moorish rhapsody. Why? It is up to you to find out, dear listener. Bon voyage!

Håkan Stockhaus, Sweden in 1996

"'The Gardens of The artist

Mysteries was put together in the Gimle Recording Studio from 1993 to 1996, initially as a cassette and eventually expanding into a CD-album (with the complement of tracks 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and a couple of tracks excluded)". And album of 24 track between 1:30 to 5 minutes with a total of 74 minutes of music.

"Our ambition was to combine moods and Melodies, instrumentation with comtemplation, energy with tranquility, I has picked up a lot of musical elements from my travels, Mikeal studied Indian music in Gujarat, Ulf learned the Egyptian tabla (a variation of the turkish darbouka)in the oasis of El Bawati in Egypt and Karin was an explorer in the deep jungles of Africa, thus learning to perform on African percussion unto perfection. All the group members have also been into various European musical traditions".

The album start with 'Gates of Andorra', "Dedicated to Monsieur de Sainte Colombe", composer of 'Viola da Gamba', melancholic this song with Flute and nice acoustic guitar, I think, that it really got a style that fit with the mountain, not so far of the Andies music also. 'Karakoram Pass', is a more a mystical song, with an easy piano line and with some African beat as percussion. 'Escape From Canaan' "reflects the cross-cultural conglomerate and turmoil of the Middle-East", the basic of the song is practically the same Arabic rift that PINK FLOYD used on 'More'(Will find the title song soon). Then follow 'Hiram Abiff', named of a king of Tyr, he help Solomon's for the contruction of his Temple, he was also lover of the Queen of Sheeba, a bit western, and what a nice Arabian arrangement in here, flute especially. 'Kekova', is a "Sunken Lycian city" in the Turkish southern west coast. It really take the sound from the place. 'Ali Hasan', "the man", it's another Turkish oriented song, "an homage to the psychedelic Turkish music from the 60's and to Turkish Arabesque". 'Aslan' mean lion in Turkish, so a third Turkish oriented song that seam a bit more folk to me.

The next one 'Meditating Minotauros', I think the title is clear. Follow 'The Garden of Mysteries II', where you can ear birds in the beginning, "It's the garden of your imagination", say Peter, the song is link to '

Monsoon' that "Takes you to the old Siam (Thailand), the mystical Jungle Island of Chan, that is where the inspiration comes from". Great songs these ones ! Then return to the Turkish area with 'Andalucy' (Andalusen in Swedish)which "is the predecessor of 'Ali Hasan' and used to be a 'standart' when the group was named ALADDIN'S LAMPA (Lantern). Look at the end a fuzzy sithar sound which continu til the end of the second song which is link to it, 'Journey to Hell, this time "inspired by the Medieval Scandinavian folk Ballad and Describes an initiation into the 'Sejd', the Nordic Shamanic Tradition. Include here is an instrumental version". "Moorish Waltz" is more an European song with nice guitar and mellotron, and the rock 60's influence that Peter likes. The following song 'Trans Turkish Express' "is the backpacker's freeway, initially a tag to 'Moorish Rapsody'.

The next song 'Aral', named of the Russian dead lake, an environnemental disaster create by the hands of the human race, because of the money, the Russian Capitalism, where "derelict fishing boats sail the dunes for eternity". You heard here wind and desolation, feeling like if you are alone, without life, really appropriate music for this unhappy incident among lot of other, with some Ambient orientation trend. The next one 'Moorish Waltz', "partly the same as track 2. It was inspired both by the music of the Andies and Bo Hansson (The Lord of the Ring). It features various Flutes, Mellotron and String instruments. 'Desert Visons' is "the firts track to be recorded for the album", Turkish I think, the song is link to the next one 'Ya Qader', a song for African percussion and link with 'The Garden of Mysteries I' in which feature the Turkish Saz instrument. 'La Dame inconnue', a song for Piano and Flute, with strings in the background. 'Almeria' "owes a lot to the contemporary composer Ennio Morricone.
Sorry I don't have the next song 'Palm-Cat', then

two bonus track follow: 'Sagarmatha', who was a contribution to a spychedelic compilation called 'Floralia Vol. 3' released by Wot 4 records in 1999. The recording was made togheter with Håkan Almkvist who play the sitar, Helena Selanders on vocals and Stefan Ottman. The title mean "Mt Everest in Nepalese" and finally the last song 'Return to Andorra' "a reply to the track one" on 'Garden', 'Gates of Andorak', but in fact released 2 years before on casette and called 'Mysteriernas Trädgård' (Garden of Mystery in Swedish). "Inspiration come from French Renaissance and from seeing the Motion Picture 'Tous les Matin du Monde, where Marain Marais and Monsieur Sainte Colombe are portrayed.

'Garden' is first and album with lot of world influences and where the inspiration is caming from diverse country, an album also played with a notable amount of instruments as you can ear & see in the credits. M. Gejel help here in the composing of six songs, and helped in four other ones. It is probably the more interesting album for the progressive fans, but somewhere 'Dryad' is stronger than it. Very good moment in here, I recommand this music.

Denis Taillefer,Proglands
Proglands

Bereits mit ihrem Erstling "The garden of mysteries" gingen In The Labyrinth auf die Reise in ferne Länder, vor allem die Welt zwischen Orient und Indien hatte es den zwei Schweden musikalisch angetan. Während Håkan Almqvist (Ensemble Nimbus) bei seinem später in diesem Heft noch folgenden Projekt Orient Squeezers völlig in den indischen Subkontinent versunken ist, reist er zusammen mit Peter Lindahl nicht immer ganz so weit, es darf auch mal nur in Orient bzw. mittlerer Osten sein. "Walking on clouds" verbindet Elemente aus dem Mittelalter mit Musik aus dem mittleren Osten, skandinavischen Folk mit sinfonischen Rock, Psychedelic mit Ambient, Indische Raga mit durchkomponierten Arrangements. Neben einer Vielfalt von Instrumenten (z.B. Sitar, Mandoline, Zither, Violine, diverse Flöten, aber auch Mellotron, E-Gitarre) lebt das Album

vor allem von seiner vielschichtigen Atmosphäre der einfließenden Stile. Daneben mach die federleichten Melodien die Reise in eine fremde Welt zu einem Genuss: einfach träumen, die Augen schließen und sich davon tragen lassen. Vielleicht wurde an manchen Stellen der Schmalz doch etwas zu arg übertreiben bzw. die Musiker erwecken den Eindruck, als dass sie zu sehr in ihren Klangkosmos versunken sind. Ein überaus interessantes Hörbeispiel für fremde Kulturen, Rhythmen und Instrumentierungen ist dem schwedischen Duo allemal gelungen.

Kristian Selm
Progressive newsletter