Arcadium
Breathe Awhile

Arcadia was a district in the Greek region of the Peloponnese, named after Arcas, the son of the god Jupiter. This mythological land was predominantly inhabited by shepherds and the god Pan. Legend has it that it was a place where great joy reigned and where poets and musicians were at home, continually finding inspiration from the lush vegetation surrounding them. England in the late sixties was probably a place where the same kind of magic was in the air. Alongside the sacred monsters of British pop-rock, a myriad of bands flourished and to unleash all this creativity, many small record labels (independent...???) also came to light. In London, towards the end of the decade, Middle Earth Records (Middle Earth... the Hobbits... Tolkien... oh well... that's another story) was very active and signed the band of the Ellwood Brothers and that poetic genius Miguel Sergides (magical composer of all the tracks)... the Arcadium. As often happens, life is short and success a smoky chimera... but the traces left for us are modern, crystalline poetry.

"Breathe Awhile" opens with eleven minutes of "I'm On My Way", pure acid and progressive pop-rock, where we are gently led through dark and unsafe streets, inhabited by increasing tension, before entering a forest where the mist becomes a disturbing presence, like Sergides' ethereal voice, which takes us by the hand and introduces us to a modern pagan dance, with a frenetic and restless Hammond organ taking the lead. The entire album maintains its intensity and "Poor Lady" is a violent freak ballad haunted by acid spirits, and "Walk On The Bad Side" is a jagged and visceral progressive track, furious in its final stride. "Woman Of A Thousand Years" is an intense Brit-blues, overloaded with nervous keyboards that lead into the gloomy tranquility of "Change Me", built on the splendid theatricality of Sergides' vocals. The final ten minutes of "Birth, Life And Death" are a hypnotic mantra with the five members fiercely hurling themselves into a vortex of collective self-analysis.

The Repertoire Records reissue (2000) also includes the band's only single "Sing My Song b/w Riding Alone", released also in 1969 (both moving tracks of melancholic psychedelia); therefore, encompassing the entire sparse production of Arcadium.