VELVET THUNDER

Yuka & Chronoship do offer something different from the mainstream prog crowd. That Eastern feel combined with some highly original music makes Ribbon Butterfly a thoroughly enjoyable listen.

The questions crossing your mind right now might be ‘Yuka who?’ and ‘what is a chronoship?’ The Yuka in question is Japanese musician Yuka Funakoshi, a well-known keyboard player and artist in the Japanese prog scene. I can’t find a dictionary definition of chronoship, but I’d like to think that it is intended to refer to a time-travelling ship (a Japanese Tardis, if you wish). More mundanely, it might simply be an invented name to give credit to the three other seasoned musicians who perform in Yuka’s band.

Yuka & Chronoship have been around for about a decade and a half now and have been releasing albums at a leisurely pace with Ribbon Butterfly being their fifth.  I had hopes that their take on prog might be a fascinating mix of Western and Eastern sources, but apart from one or two Japanese sounding passages, this is prog music that could have been written by anyone, even if there’s a certain delicacy and reflectiveness in much of the music that one could attribute to its Japanese origins.

Ribbon Butterfly is a concept album, even if that fact is not easily discernible from the words since most tracks are instrumental. The album trailer below gives some clues as to the story though, which appears to be about a child’s fantastical dream journey.  The title track kicks of the album in expansive style over its almost ten minutes duration. There’s certainly an Eastern feel to the opening, built around atmospheric use of the xylophone and a gentle synth theme, although once the full band enter the soundscape becomes something more familiar to Anglo-Saxon ears. The track develops through several sections including an almost funky sung part (Yuka’s English diction is admirably good), varied keyboard-led passages that also include important contributions from guitarist Miyazawa, some impressive vocalising, and finally a gentle fade-out on piano. While Genesis and Yes are often quoted as influences on Yuka’s music, it’s fair to say that her compositions are much less complex and dense in the instrumentation than those two bands. To me, Yuka & Chronoship’s music is closer to a group like Camel, with the keyboard emphasis also recalling some of Rick Wakeman’s recent work – it’s prog for sure, but of a light and mostly instrumental variety.

The xylophone theme which opened the title track returns in slower guise in the one-minute closing track which nicely closes the loop. Between these two bookends, Mummy And Daddy (the penultimate track) is the only other track where Yuka sings. It’s an odd upbeat number, with something of a Kate Bush whimsical feel to it.

The instrumental tracks demonstrate a variety of styles that help keep the music interesting. Aunt Clairvoyance, for example, sounds like an Irish jig. And it’s followed by Children Of Yewtree where the dance theme remains, but this time with more of a Balkans beat. In contrast, Polar Dark is a reflective piece right out of the Camel songbook, but sadly without Andy Latimer’s inspirational guitar. The lengthier pieces tend to be the stronger ones. Hourglass Cover, for example, showcases some good Hackett-inspired guitar work from Miyazawa which interleaves well with Yuka’s keys. It’s a bit of a slow burner with the main theme, that seems a little ordinary at the start, becoming quite epic by the end. Planetary Cleansing has a striking orchestral opening with keys imitating a mournful falling horn theme and then builds up to a fast guitar solo. That solo stands out because if there’s a fault with this album then it is a little too laid back; the album might have benefitted from more energetic outbursts such as this one. For me, the highlight of the album is Sleeping Girl In The Stained Glass. Yuka’s lovely opening work on the organ gives this song a different meditative sort of texture, and the track builds satisfyingly to a climax with guitar and Moog solos. It’s barely five minutes long but Sleeping Girl In The Stained Glass highlights everything that’s good about Yuka & Chronoship.  

In good prog tradition, there is beautiful artwork on the cover as well as in the attractive 36-page booklet. This artwork was courtesy of Freyja Dean, daughter of Roger, and she seems to have picked up her father’s knack of being able to paint inspiring pieces for prog albums.

Ribbon Butterfly is a solid light prog album that perhaps just lacks a really outstanding track. On the other hand, Yuka & Chronoship do offer something different from the mainstream prog crowd. That Eastern feel combined with some highly original music makes Ribbon Butterfly a thoroughly enjoyable listen.