17.90 € Ref: EX 26550

RPWL (Allemagne) The RPWL Experience

Strictly speaking, the German musicians should have had to rename their band. But RPWL, founded in 1997 as a PINK FLOYD tribute band and named after the four initials of the founder members, did its best to avoid this despite changes of the line-up. After all, the musicians from a Bavarian town near Munich were able to secure themselves with this trademark and with their debut album "God Has Failed", which was released in the year 2000, a position in the top league of their musical genre. Rougher and more personal, and without missing all those ingredients which make lovers of symphonic rock music freak out, the new album "Trying To Kiss The Sun" presents itself. Being constantly compared with the musicians around David GILMOUR, who are forming the core of PINK FLOYD and who have been possibly vanished into oblivion in the mid-Nineties for ever, this doesn't much affect singer Jürgen "YOGI" LANG, guitar player KarlHeinz WALLNER, drummer Phil Paul RISSETTIO as well as the new guys Andreas WERNTHALER (Keyboards) and Stephan EBNER (Bass). Because RPWL don't make a secret of the fact that once ground-breaking PINK FLOYD works like "Run Like Hell", "Pigs", "Welcome To The Machine" or the less popular "Lucifer Sam" were the trigger for one's own career as professional musicians. Moreover, the guitar player's god-given pitch level is just surprisingly similar to David GILMOUR's, and also the playing styles of KarlHeinz WALLNER and Andreas WERNTHALER are strongly influenced by those of David GILMOUR and Rick WRIGHT respectively. However, it should be stressed that the band found their original musical form of expression with their second long-player "Trying To Kiss Yhe Sun". With a lot of punch and self-confidence, unique and atmospheric and a dense structure throughout, the band comes to the point: for instance with the mighty title track, the hymnal songs "You" and "Tell Me Why", the slightly psychedelic sounding rocker "Sugar For The Ape", or with "Waiting For A Smile", where piercing synthesizer lines over a celestial background prick up one's ears. Whether the constant building and phasing out of arrangements in order to cause excitement, the adding of finely arranged gems ("Side By Side", "Sunday Morning") to the mostly bombastic sound, or the symbiosis of perfect craft with extraordinary songwriting. RPWL are long since masters of their trade anyway, that is the winking play with sound fiddley jobs which are typical for art-rock: here a sampled bird's twittering, there strangely alienated voice fragments. Today almost as famous as its British alter-ego PORCUPINE TREE, the German group offers its much awaited new album, simply called "The RPWL Experience" (2008). The band's trademark is still there, even if we can notice a musical return to the source. The production is top-notch, and the compositions well written. Without any doubt RPWL's best album ! The CD is available in two formats, the special edition including two bonus-tracks, and the jewel box is presented in an elegant paperwrapping. RPWL did an incredible thing in reuniting ambition and "easy-listening" in its music...

Premier album d'un groupe teuton formé autour de trois anciens membres de VIOLET DISTRICT, "God Has Failed" comportait treize morceaux remarquablement composés et produits. Le tout dans une veine rock Progressive atmosphérique regorgeant d'éléments symphoniques dans la tradition du modèle de RPWL, PINK FLOYD. Ce qui constituait alors l'une des plus importantes réalisations pour l'année 2000, se voit aujourd'hui surpassé par "Trying To Kiss The Sun". Enregistré deux ans plus tard, ce second opus est incontestablement celui de la maturité. Désormais émancipés de leurs influences premières, les musiciens s'attachent à jouer une musique moderne, qui a su adapter à sa manière l'héritage des années soixante-dix. Toujours aussi mélodique et agréable à écouter, celle-ci marie avec élégance refrains facilement mémorisables et passages instrumentaux sophistiqués. Des références nouvelles se font jour, à l'image du GENESIS de "Entangled". Et si l'on ne peut s'empêcher de trouver des similitudes avec les atmosphères planantes des Flamands Roses britanniques, c'est plutôt du côté de PORCUPINE TREE qu'il faut désormais aller les chercher. Aujourd'hui presque aussi célèbre que la formation de Steven WILSON, le combo teuton nous propose son très attendu nouvel album, sobrement intitulé "The RPWL Experience" (2008). Celui-ci poursuit l'oeuvre de la formation, en revenant quelque peu aux sources. La production est d'un très grand niveau, et les compositions particulièrement bien étudiés. Sans doute le meilleur album de RPWL ! Le CD est disponible en deux formats, l'édition spéciale comprenant deux titres bonus, et est présenté dans un fourreau cartonné du plus bel effet. RPWL a réussi un pari impossible à priori, l'alchimie parfaite entre ambition et accessibilité...