Baku Llama

Baku Llama is a three piece band based in Duarte, CA: David Bernath on guitars, bass and keyboards; Ann Bernath on drums, vocals and piano; and Rick Whitehurst on piano and keyboards. When we asked them how they came up with the band's name, their answer was: ?A Baku is a mythical Japanese monster who eats bad dreams and nightmares. A Llama is just a llama. We honestly just picked the name out of thin air and we all agreed it fit the mythical feeling of the music somehow?.

The band is deservedly receiving positive reactions for their recent album. Although they recorded another CD before this one (Devour My Evil Dream), they consider ERIS to be their first official release. All three members have full time jobs, so the music is a labor of love for them. David plays a Strat, a Telecaster and a Lindert guitar through Marshall and Boogie amps, also Guild and Taylor acoustic guitars. He plays a midi controlled Alesis Nano piano on two of the album tracks. He did all the recording, mastering and mixing in his studio, since he was experienced in this domain (he worked as an intern at a major recording studio). He was also trained as a classical guitarist.

Ann plays Yamaha drums and does all the vocals on ERIS. She plays piano on ?Discord? and ?Discord Resolved?. Vocally trained, Ann also reads music. ?She is a soft hitting drummer that can instantly on the spot come up with interesting beats and changeups and can hang on tight to the music wherever David goes while jamming? says Rick when describing her style. Her vocals sound very medieval and mystic, with a little bit of ?The Doors? spiced in.

One of the most interesting things about Baku Llama is that Rick is a self-taught pianist. If you ask him he will tell you he does not know how to play the piano. He certainly does have a natural talent, and the muse appears to be always with him. Rick worked with Nick Tosches on his album ?For The Taking? which is a collection of Nick's spoken word from his book ?Chaldea / I Dig Girls? put to Rick's own electronic music. Corinna Whitehurst, Rick's wife made the beautiful artwork for ERIS.

The band's musical influences are diverse: from Nels Cline, Van Der Graaf Generator and Peter Hammill to King Crimson, John Coltrane and Porcupine Tree; from Discipline and Dave Matthews Band to The Doors, Keith Tippett and The Stranglers. The group already finished three tracks for their next project and they are hoping to release it late this year.

It is not easy to categorize ERIS because it has elements of rock, jazz, ambient, folk and avant-garde. The band tries to create an intense and mysterious atmosphere with their music, always keeping the listener in a suspenseful state (for the instrumental parts). For example ?Discord? is only a 1:32 minute long song, but it immediately calls you to get into that mood with its repetitive chords on the keyboards. ?Hamatsa? sets the stage for an ambient atmosphere and with the addition of electric guitars and bass it becomes more intense, and to top that they add the jazzy keyboards. This is pretty much the dominating theme on ERIS. However the shredding guitar sound sometimes disappears, and leaves room for a more acoustic sound, which is very appealing. The electric sound is present in the beginning and towards the end of the album. Although keyboard oriented, one interesting thing that the listeners will notice is that the guitars sometimes act like a rhythm section element along with the drums (like on some parts of ?Side Two?) and the intriguing thing is that David knows where to do it and where to stop it before it sounds flat.

There are three songs with vocals: ?Betrayed?, ?Eris? and ?This Time?. Ann's vocals are folksy and deep. Her singing is soft, just like her drumming. ?Betrayed? has The Doors influence, especially on the keyboards. ?Eris? has a more ambient atmosphere, and Ann's drums have a Celtic feel to them. The last song with vocals ?This Time? is more folksy compared to the other ones.

The album was recorded during improvisations mostly. There is absolutely a great chemistry between these three musicians, you can't not notice it. Fusion and avant-garde sounding keyboards, mixed with electric guitars and soft yet powerful drums (combined with Ann's medieval vocals) put this album already in a different place among others in this ?genre?. ERIS is definitely one of those albums that you should hear (and add to your collection). From beginning to end it will keep you ?alert? and in ?suspense?, which I presume is what they set out to accomplish!

Visit their myspace at: www.myspace.com/bakullama