Curved Air's new studio album "North Star" is based on their powerful-progressive times in the early seventies. And this although of the original line-up only singer Sonja Kristina and drummer Florian Pilkington-Miksa are still present. Wonder violinist Darryl Way, who played a decisive role in shaping the Curved Air sound, has not been in the service of the British group since 2009; Paul Sax, however, is in no way inferior to him in terms of virtuosity. Guitarist Kirby Gregory was already in the seventies for a short time in the game, he is still an expert on his instrument.
"North Star" is a cornucopia of mature prog compositions, seven of them brand-new, plus three re-recordings of earlier tracks, a new recording of singer Kristina's solo number "Young Mother" as well as cover versions of titles by the Beatles, The Police and Snow Patrol. Kristina's voice has slipped an octave lower in the meantime, sometimes brittle and reminiscent of the morbid charm of Nico or Marianne Faithfull. Nevertheless, what the 65-year-old delivers is as usual ethereal and powerful. "We weren't the first to bring classical music and rock - Vivaldi and Hendrix - together," she says, "but we certainly pushed this style mix forward. We're taking this up with the current disc."
