Siena Root “Different Realities” – a review by Spacepig

I have never made any secret of my admiration for this band, and this review will not change that. Very few bands grab me in the way that Siena Root did from the first time I ever heard them, at the Burg Herzberg festival in Germany way back in 2004. At that time they had just released their first CD, “A New Day Dawning”, an epic built on their early inspirations, the ’70′s hard rock classics, Sabbath, Purple, Zeppelin yet promising so much more than sheer hard riffing, containing as it did Blues vocals to rival Kossof or Mayall.

That was then – now 5 years and a further two albums along the line they have come up with this, their fourth release “Different Realities”. For each release they have kept the core of the band yet amazingly each one has a different vocalist. And so whilst the music has similarities, the vocal delivery changes each time. Is this progressive? Or does it show a band still trying to define it’s sound? That decision is yours alone, all I do know is that it makes each release different from the other and appears to show a willingness to experiment.

And never more than on this one. Gone for the main part is the heavy blues sound, the sometimes throaty, sometimes sultry voice. Indeed, for the most of it, the vocals have been removed altogether. Instead we get two mainly instrumental movements. The first, “We” takes up what in the olden days would be side 1 of the LP, followed on side 2 with “On the Road to Agartha” (wherever that may be).

“We Are Them” kicks off in relatively laid back style, a gentle piece of acoustic guitar, with an almost whispered voice advising “we are them, they are us”, “we are all the same” before the drums and electrics kick in to waken us from the reverie. This sets the scene for the theme of the album, the mixing of styles and instrumentation as well as ideas from a worldwide perspective. The plea to come together is repeated throughout, not only in the admittedly limited lyrical context, but mainly in the huge diversity of instruments employed.

Not many bands these days have the courage to open an album with a track running to over ten and a half minutes, but then Siena Root are no ordinary band.

This fades nicely into track 2 “Different Realities”and this is where the musical diversity really begins to shine through. I can’t state for certain exactly what instruments are being used, I hear Spanish guitar, sitar, hurdy gurdy, the CD booklet informs me there is things called the darbuka, tzouras, qaraqab, rauschpfeife. I’ll have to take their word for it – whatever it is, it sounds so fresh and haunting at times. But these instruments aren’t just there for the novelty value, these guys really know how to play them and work them in with the more familiar guitars and synthesizers. This track is more of a rocker than most other tracks and sets the scene nicely for “Over the Mountains”, see if you can notice the join!

“Over the Mountains” rocks along nicely with a great drum beat helping it along and possibly harks back more to the aforementioned “New Day Dawning” CD. Again this is another instrumental track, one to nod the head to.

The “We” movement finishes off with “As We Return”, returning once more to the theme of different, but alike. Being the final vocal track, this appears to draw the attention more to the lyrics than a straightforward vocal CD would. Because there is a definite lack of words to follow, maybe it’s just me, but I tend to pay more attention to what is offered than I would normally. “Different realities, but one goal” – profound words indeed in these troubled times.

The sleeve notes inform us that “The Road to Agartha” is a musical piece in the form of The Raags, the framework of Hindustani classical music. This is combined with rhythms from North Africa and played with the traditional instruments mentioned previously, but for added effect, joined with medieval European instruments such as the recorder, violin and hurdy gurdy! How easy would this be to turn into one complete mess? How effortlessly do Siena Root make this appear as natural as the over-riding theme of the CD?

Long instrumental passages can become tiresome to the average listener, of this I am well aware, however I don’t believe that anyone who can appreciate music for the beauty in it could ever become tiresome of this section of the album. It sweeps along, blending the quieter reflective moments with bursts of sheer energy which just catapult the listener along.

And by the end, as we come full circle and return to the opening, we are ready for it all to begin again.

You will never hear this CD on MTV or national radio. Very few music magazines will give it any more than a passing reference. It won’t sell in the millions and 99.9% of the music buying population will never even know of its existence. Which is more than just a shame, it’s positively criminal when you consider the mindless trash that passes as popular music these days. I urge everyone to at least give this band a listen, if you don’t like it, fair enough, but you’ll never really know what you’re missing until you give it a go.

The news is that Siena Root are busily completing a new live double CD of their recent European tour. I know who’s first on the list for a copy when it’s released.