Formed in the Middle East, while living in Qatar, Caravan Dream features the combined talents of Hadi Assoum (Lead guitar / Piano), Radi El Zouhby (Lead vocals / guitar), Rami El Zouhby (bass) and Oleksandr Banashko (drums). The band draw on an eclectic mix of pop, rock, psych and funk for their debut album, Fantasy, and while not every departure is successful, the album moves briskly enough to garner an audience, and it’s clear that these talented musicians have both the ambition and skill to reach further, providing they can settle more effectively on a coherent direction.
A relatively svelte album, at just seven tracks in length Fantasy is an album that showcases a former covers band seeking their identity as they dip their toes into various waters. It opens with the light-touch pop-rock of Moonlight, which treads similar ground to early Coldplay. As openers go, it’s fairly underwhelming, although it does demonstrate a knack for a catchy melody, and the album picks up with the tighter rhythms of Fantasy, a track that cleaves closer to the ultra-modern pop of latter-day Duran Duran. With more opportunities for the musicians to shine (not least on a gritty lead break that causes the ears to prick up), it’s easy to see why Fantasy was chosen as the title track. With synth strings leading the way, Constellation underscores the band’s ambitions towards the epic, but the resultant track sits somewhere between the aforementioned Coldplay and U2, albeit without the gargantuan budget those bands command, and it doesn’t really reach the heights the band clearly intended. Better is Lines, a marginally tougher song with hints of The Cure in its opening riff, although it unexpectedly heads off in a Divine Comedy Direction, just when you’re least expecting it. Nevertheless, it is here that the band feel more at ease, offering a sound that feels more natural than the Chris Martin-isms noted elsewhere. Next up, Home captures the band at their most effectively ethereal, drifting in the starry skies the cover depicts, before Rock And Roll Girl picks up the pace a tad. To be honest, the title is somewhat misleading, as there’s little that is rock ‘n’ roll in the track, but fans of the calming indie of Belle and Sebastian may dig it. It leaves the soaring Into Your Maze to bring the album to a conclusion on a hopeful note. A track that offers a certain degree of promise for the future, it still tips its hat in the direction of influences noted elsewhere, but with more confidence and originality, suggesting the band have yet to really capture their own essence.
A short album, Fantasy is the work of talented musicians, but it often lacks that creative flair that sets a great band apart. There’s a sense here, all too often, that the band default to their experiences playing covers, and there’s no doubt that they are talented when it comes to putting together elements that should work. However, the songs are more successful when they ditch that safety net and do something a little off-piste – Lines or Into Your Maze, for example, both of which sound more adventurous and all the better for it. Hopefully, the band’s next effort will see them more effectively engaging in finding their own identity. This album offers glimpses, but no more, with the band all too often hiding behind the obvious. 5/10
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