journal

Chris Piccirillo over at Progscape writes:

The songs drip with emotion and the lyrical style of Dave’s playing allows the melodies to get stuck inside your head long after each listen. Other highlights on this album include the wonderfully Genesis-like “Hieland Road” who’s Mellotron intro will have you immediately thinking Foxtrot before you get brought to an entirely different place. The upbeat drums and acoustics really drive this song along and I can absolutely see this being an excellent song to have blasting while driving on a twisting country road in the late summer. Another favorite is the dark, almost atonal blues nightmare “Picnic at the Slag Heap”; it bubbles and grinds, leaving you with an unsettled feeling. The hypnotic “The Water Discipline” closes out the album unexpectedly, almost like a cool-down after the preceding epic work-out “Somnium”.

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Dave Kulju’s Abstract Expression is a wonderful contrast in styles yet maintains an overall musical identity making for an extremely enjoyable song package.

And Rickard Kolp takes us song by song though his views on the entire record.

Dave Kulju’s Abstract Expression in many ways is just that. A guitar virtuoso’s painting by notes. Dave is the master mind behind this exquisite rendering and masquerades using electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitar, drum kit, guitar synthesizer, Keyboards and all programming. We have a number of special guest that include Frank Basile on drums Pleiades, Depth of Autumn, Picnic at the Slag Heap and The Main Attraction, Bryan Powers on drums Internal Combustion and Don’t Mind Me, Joel Mahathy on Theremin and guitar solo on Picnic at the Slag Heap, Doug Upton organ solo on Somnium and Ian Cameron on Violin Pleiades. Let’s grab a brush and give this one a try.

Internal Combustion – Well if we were painting this first tune would have burned our canvas to cinders. It comes out combusting in a spontaneously ignitable aura of mass fusion. It pulsates as if it’s ready to explode but the interludes and orchestral keyboards in the middle temper its power. Its wrestling theme is punctuated by some fine drumming by Bryan Powers.

Don’t Mind Me – The mood that is created in this tune is totally abstract. It starts off with a beautiful guitar chord for the first forty seconds or so and follows with a layered guitar effect that becomes grungy and harsh. The piano then takes the led for a short time before Dave comes in over the top in a mild manner before becoming grungy and harsh all over again. A short guitar solo breaks in at just the right time.

Hieland Road – Strap on the back packs and let’s kick this hike into overdrive. The road features a driving led guitar over an acoustic back drop. We are on the edge looking down until midway when we shift to some fine drum programming along with some nice bass work and a sudden ending.

[note: The drums on Heiland Road were real acoustic drums and not programmed. My Drumming debut actually. -Dave]

Pleides – Frank Basile’s drums open this tune and do a nice job of cascading throughout the entire tune. We have a small piece of violin thrown in by Ian Cameron along with some precisely placed keyboard work by Dave. The layered guitars dual in and out in a meandering way as if to tell you something is about to happen. At the 3:50 mark Dave’s solo kicks it in high gear before Frank Basile’s drums ratchet us back. You can just feel the thought that went into a tune such as this.

Depth of Autumn – Once again the abstract master is in full effect. Here we start with an acoustic ballad that is manipulated into some type of swing that is transposed into a squawking guitar that over lies the melody. Dave’s guitar finally takes to the forefront and caters to this melodic tune.

Read the rest at www.richardkolp.com