Birzer Bandana are a new band, formed by Progarchy’s Brad Birzer (lyrics) and Salander’s Dave Bandana (music and performance). Dave provides vocals, bass, guitars, drums, drum programming, synths, piano, organ, and mellotron, with Olga Kent assisting with violin on two songs and Mick Bennett guitar on one. This is quite a mixed bag of an album, with quite a slow starter in “Awash” which doesn’t set the scene as well as it could, and it would have been better to have the second song “The Dance” as the initial cut, as this more upbeat number is a great song with good vocals and melodies brought to life with some great violin. For some reason this is one of the numbers that definiietly reminds me of late Seventies Barclay James Harvest, which can only be a good thing in my book.
From here on in the listener is taken on a pleasant journey through crossover prog, mixing pop influences with prog rock. Different ideas have been tried here and there, such as the choral introduction to “3 To 1”, and the result is a pleasant varied album that has quite a lot to offer. I like the way each track segues into the next, provides an excellent transition through the album. I do think the next step for these guys is to move away from a project and more into a full band, as having a huma drummer will make a real difference to the overall sound, and I would like Olga to beomce far more involved as she provides an edge that cuts through the Floydian styles to good effect.
This is a promising debut album, and is probable the first one I have ever heard from Lanzarote (Dave moved there a few years ago) – not normally an area thought of as a hotbed for progressive rock. This is certainly worth hearing, and is currently available as a free download at https://birzerbandana.bandcamp.com
