Band: Gentle Infidels

CD Title: “Insolents and Indolents”

Band Website: www.myspace.com/gentleinfidels

Label: Independent Release

Label Website:

Release Date: 2010

 

During the progressive rock heydays of the seventies there was a thriving progressive folk sub genre. Bands like Pentangle, Roy Harper, Fairport Convention and early Strawbs performed side by side with the rockier bands such as Genesis and Yes. Carrying on in that same musical fashion today is Vancouver BC’s Gentle Infidels. This creative trio consisting of Edwin Bond (guitar, vocals), Ferdy Belland (fretless bass, vocals) and Christina Rzepa (cello, vocals) deliver a totally unique sound that is equal parts acid-folk and progressive-folk. It’s a sound you just don’t hear much these days, it’s all acoustic and its all there on their first CD entitled Insolents and Indolents.

 

Insolents and Indolents features ten tracks ranging from the short “Mourning Song” [2:57] to the longer “A Taste for Waste” [8:24]. The disc starts off with the Led Zeppelin flavoured “Blackguard” [4:15]. Obviously the instrumentation is entirely different but there is an overriding feel that this is a lost track from Led Zeppelin III, you know that album where everyone thought Zep went acoustic. It’s that hesitant strumming, solid rhythmic bass and descending cello lines that make it so haunting and Bond’s vocals delivered in melancholy fashion provide a totally pleasing capstone. There are more than a few times where the cello reminds me of some obscure Beatles backing track and the bass, all smooth and velvety is seamlessly bonded to these tunes, while the acoustic guitar is picked and strummed to perfection. I’m not going to suggest that there are a lot of musical change-ups in the music of the Gentle Infidels because there aren’t, however each of these tracks is written in such a fashion that there is actually more going on than you think and it’s only with repeated listening and solid reflection that you pick up on the musical craftiness. Now that’s not that hard actually because these compositions have a way of drawing you in and playing with parts of your brain that normally aren’t played with. In classic proggy fashion some of these songs feature long and extended musical explorations that deviate from the opening or closing passages. Certainly the longer tracks like “March Where You Stand” [7:23] weave their way through more than a few changes in time and tempo.         

 

I found the music of theGentle Infidels quite hypnotically soothing. It’s not the kind of music I listen to a lot, but Insolents and Indolents was a refreshing change. In fact it surprised me that I liked it as much as I did. If you have a soft spot for real honest progressive folk that places and emphasis on acoustic sounds I think you’ll really like the music of The Gentle Infidels. Give them a listen they might surprise you too.