Cartographer
A Sea of Sunshine

Dutch quintet of cartographers are taking a ride on the sunny seas with their debut album, maybe they are mapping them for later wayfarers to find their way through the seas when they are a bit rougher. They are instrumentalists from Tilburg in the Netherlands; they have been around for a short while and this is their debut work called A Sea of Sunshine.

It is an instrumental journey over nine chapters, post-metal or something in that vein might be the way to describe it. It is atmospheric, it has depth and a fairly individual style that at least make the band seem a bit less like anything else. They do make some interesting steps to set them apart from the world of instrumental bands but at the same time they do not quite do enough as it feels a bit like they have forgotten or just left the vocals out instead of taking them completely out of the equation which is how the best instrumental bands to it. But their production is very good and they have a very agreeable soundscape that most certainly gives a good feeling, in a sense it is a bit like music for a film that is taking place out there on the seas. That would play a lot to their strengths focusing on the dramatic things and having the dialog where the vocals should have been.

The album is fairly good but doesn’t quite stand out as something I enjoy listening to, I do enjoy it to some level as it works well in the background and doesn’t really steal all the attention when you are doing other things. May not quite be my cup of tea but I am very sure that it will appeal to fans of instrumental rock because it has some really good stuff in there even if it does not quite work for me as a whole.

There are no standout songs, the album works best as a whole. The album may be a tad on the long side as the tempo is always a tad low making it feel a bit uneventful as a whole. It is difficult to say that much really about this album, it doesn’t quite grab me and I seem to loose a bit of attention the further into the album I get. Still, I do think that they have some clever ideas and some amazing talent but they do not quite deliver it fully as I think they missed a bit of a trick when they decided to go instrumental, some vocals would have added an extra dimension to this album. If you don’t believe me, check it out for yourself.

Well, in the end I think I can conclude that it is a fairly good album that is probably more agreeable for anyone who is more into the whole instrumental rock/metal genre.

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