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A Flying Fish — El Pez Que Voló - Act I
(Apollon Records AP163, 2023, CD / DL)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2024-02-27

El Pez Que Voló - Act I Cover art

When you think of Mexican progressive rock bands, you would not be remiss if you think of Iconclasta, Jorge Reyes, Carlos Alvarado, Decibel, or even 0.720 Aleación. But never of music that remotely sounds like the band A Flying Fish, a sound that comes at you from out of left field. A Flying Fish is the solo efforts of multi-instrumentalist and visionary Râhoola (keyboards, piano, guitars, bass, FX, drums, lead vocals, choir, and orchestra). El Pez Que Voló - Act I is Râhoola’s debut album, a project produced in Circodenso, Monterrey, Nuevo León, México between August 2014 and November 2022. It tells the story of Teezûck, the strange love child of a bird and a fish who lives depressed in the dark depths of the sea across ten zany and outré songs. The album opens with “Obertoora,” an alternate Spanish spelling of Overture, that sounds like the theme music for a weird science fiction TV show based on Zappa’s 200 Motels. Then Râhoola launches into “Genezees,” “Teezûck,” “Fear Thyself,” “Twin Snails,” “Upon a Star,” “Holy Fruit,” “A He̊-Kuree Dream,” “Mama, Papa!” and “Destiny Calls,” a set of oddball grand production Broadway-esque musical tunes that conjure up images of Major Parkinson, Bertolt Brecht, and of course Frank Zappa. Crazed melodic orchestral passages, power chords, crashing sounds, odd vocalizing, and raucous wall of sounds leap at you from different directions. As an example, the song “Holy Fruit” begins with a calm ambient and delicate under water atmosphere that morphs into crunchy and choking sounds, a musical image of Adam and Evil? So, if you are truly looking for something completely unusual that keeps your attention throughout its 42 minutes, take the leap and investigate A Flying Fish.

Filed under: New releases, 2023 releases

Related artist(s): A Flying Fish

More info
http://aflyingfish.bandcamp.com/album/el-pez-que-vol-act-i

 

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