Guapo - History of The Visitation (2013)

History of the Visitation is the ninth album from the forward-looking foursome Guapo. This album finds them following through on the kind of epic constructions that sprung forth from their albums like Five Suns and Black Oni. The record is dominated by the 26-minute tour de force “The Pilman Radiant,” offset only by the 11-minute journey “Tremors from the Future” and the considerably more compact sonic sculpture known as “Complex #7.” The band currently comprises drummer and founding member David J. Smith with mainstays Kavus Torabi (Cardiacs, Knifeworld) on guitar and James Sedwards (Nøght) on bass, joined by recent addition Emmett Elvin (Chrome Hoof, Knifeworld) on keyboards. In addition to the new studio album, both the CD and LP versions include a live DVD of the group from their 2006 and 2007 USA and European tours. This is the only live footage of the band available to the public and features former member Daniel O’Sullivan of Ulver and Sun 0))). Prolific British experimental/prog/jazz/ Guapo has been releasing albums and EPs at a steady pace since forming in 1994. Despite often changing from one release to the next, or in some cases, from one song to the next, their style can loosely be described as playful and engaging — especially for what the words experimental and prog rock often imply — with basic reference points including France’s Magma (whom they name checked in one album title) and Japan’s the Ruins (with whom they recorded an album). Guapo’s lineup has changed or been augmented several times, but the core of the band consists of bassist/guitarist Matt Thompson and drummer/percussionist Dave Smith. Other periodic full-time members have included bassist Rojer Macoustra (with the group from 1994-1996), bassist Pid (1996-1997), and Honkies saxophonist Caroline Kraabel (1999-2000). Guapo has self-released three EPs — Hell Is Other People (1995), Guapo Is No More (1996), and Horse Walks Into a Bar (1996) — and one full-length album, Towers Open Fire (1997), through their own Power Tools label before moving to the French Pandemonium imprint for a series of releases. These included the EPs Eat a Car (1997) and Guapo vs. Magma (1998) and the full-length CDs Hirohito (1998) and Great Sage, Equal of Heaven (2001), the latter of which was co-released for the U.S. by tUMULt. Yet another album, Death Seed, which was actually their third full-length, came out on Italy’s Free Land in 2000.

TRACKLIST
1. The Pilman Radiant (26:04)
2. Complex #7 (04:36)
3. Tremors From The Future (11:04)
4. Five Suns [Live @ NEARfest 2006] (35:02)
5. King Lindorm [Live] (15:52)
6. The Pilman Radiant ["radio edit"] (05:52)