Dario and the Clear’s Optic Nerve is, quite simply, a wonderful progressive-rock album that avoids cliches, and follows a King Crimson path into very vital and very clever rock (and just about everything else!) grooves.
Led by guitarist and vocalist Dario Saraceno, Optic Nerve is a tough and magical ride that twists and turns through prog, fairly heavy rock, and the occasional venture into the outer limits of spacey psych.
The first song, “Deities and Splendor” defies logic. It hovers a bit in ambient weightless beauty; a David Gilmour guitar plays strange airy blues, and then the band breaks into stylized Blue Note jazz. More ethereal music follows, revealing a sublime (sort of) medieval choir which yields to an aggressive electric guitar and fiery organ that is quite the prog rock workout. Ah, the jazzy tone (thank you, Adam Siegel on sax!) re-enters the collage to finish the weird tune, which tantalizes a collective cerebral cortex.
In contrast, Dario and the Clear’s “Smile/Lies,” to quote Bad Company, manages to “rock steady.” But the song also gets into a guitar-voiced hyperdrive that recalls Robert Fripp in his wonderfully extreme moments. In fact, the entire album has an adventurous ethos not unlike the various permutations of King Crimson from (the brilliant!) Islands to the tough Thrak. That’s not surprising, as Jerry Marotta, Tony Levin, and Trey Gunn contribute to these grooves.
“Saint Street” lightens the load with a slow and ponderous vibe. The vocal (almost) sounds like David Crosby, or perhaps Adrian Belew, while the music is intricately intense and coated with a hazy West Coast rock ambience. The song swirls with a smokey ephemeral pulse that, magically, inspires friendly ghosts to dance around festive forest fires.
But the tough always get going. Dario and the Clear’s “Sustained and Distorted” sucks at necessary air. It grinds a bit. Then it exhales otherworldly guitar solos that hint at an Eastern aura. Again, King Crimson, circa Thrak (with great guitar gymnastics!) comes to mind. This is music with an urgent and often psych-rock warning. Fans of the quite popular and absolutely wonderful King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard in their Murder of the Universe mode will find a lot to love here. Then, “This Moment” gets hard-rock funky and is a showcase for Dario’s sublime electric guitar solo that scorches the brisk air of the tune.
And “Designated Skin,” to get all Biblical and metaphoric, turns water into the finest wine and ups the jazz ante once again with more of Adam Siegel’s sax. He duets with Dario’s electric guitar, while the conga percussion percolates. Then at the 4:53 (not to get too specific!) mark, it catches the heavy melodic turbulence of King Crimson’s “A Sailor’s Tale,” when Mel Collins bleats a wondrous sax blow that punctuates the soul of that epic tune. That’s a huge compliment! This is fourth dimensional music.
Optic Nerve dissolves into “Tattooed Prophet,” which is dramatic music that orbits any planet known for its great ’70s fuzz-ridden rock music. The tune fires on scorched hypnotic adrenaline.
Dario and the Clear offer progressive rock in its purity. There are no GPS guidance grooves that point to the certain sound of the ’70s giants like Genesis, Yes or ELP. Yeah, there are references to King Crimson, but Fripp and company were always a step or two ahead of the Earth’s curved horizon. So, this album just joins the club. And Dario and the Clear’s Optic Nerve, with its rock/jazz and everything else cauldron brew, is a welcome addition into a very modern and very exciting lexicon of progressive rock music.
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