The Progressive Rock Series at The North Star Bar:  Mirthrandir and Mörglbl

Philadelphia, PA -  May 17, 2009

By Mike Flavin

From the outside, The North Star Bar looks like any other unassuming watering hole on the northern end of Philly. Once you step inside, you’ll notice not only a larger building then first thought, you’ll be pretty hard pressed to miss the prodigious talent onstage. That was especially true this particular Sunday night, as Mirthrandir & Mörglbl put on a magnificent display of musical excellence.

Mirthrandir is a New Jersey-based group with a history stretching back many years. While underrepresented on the recording scene, they have showcased their music at many prog festivals throughout the United States. With a solid rhythm section of drummer Robert Arace and bassist James Miller, guitarists Tim McMahon and Alan Benjamin, and keyboardist Simon Gannet, there was enough instrumental firepower to overwhelm and overpower most vocalists, but dynamic frontman John Vislocky was more than up to the task. Pitch-perfect and with an amazing high range, his performance was truly remarkable. The entire band impressed me with their attention to detail and their ability to control the dynamics of their longer pieces. Mirthrandir’s sound sometimes bears a resemblance to groups like Kansas, Gentle Giant, and Spock’s Beard, but they give these influences the occasional experimental twist (such as when John Vislocky picked up his trumpet to play counter melody to the guitars & keyboards) that results in a sound all their own. With the encouragement of the appreciative audience, they played a terrific set. I think some new recordings by this group would be most welcome!

I had some familiarity with headliners Mörglbl thanks to a few Youtube videos filmed at Nearfest and other shows, but I was woefully unprepared for the total Mörglbl experience! All three band members (drummer Aurélien Ouzoulias, bassist Ivan Rougny, and guitarist Christophe Godin) are virtuosos in their own right, yet they still work together to create a wall of sound that at times seemed as though the three of them were parts of one large instrument. Godin in particular is a master guitarist who can play alongside any of the big names in the guitar world today, and his two cohorts are equally impressive.

With their tremendous musicianship and amusing stage antics, I could only describe them as some kind of mixture of Primus, Satriani, and the Cirque de Soleil, with a dash of Three Stooges mixed in. The largely stunned audience at the North Star scarcely knew what to expect; one moment could be a searing guitar solo over a funky bass melody, the very next would be musical equivalent of circus clowns and a high-wire act. Or all at once! Mörglbl’s fiery brand of instrumental (except for the funked-up version of “Purple Haze”) heavy rock with jazzy overtones was not only exciting to listen to, their ability to make it all look easy was simply incredible.

This was only my second of the Progressive Rock Series at the North Star, and I was happy to see a larger audience for the show than the initial event (I wasn’t able to attend last month’s show with Echolyn & The Syn). Since the performing area is largely a standing room rather than the seated auditorium most prog festivals are held in, I think it gives the bands a chance to rock out and get up close & personal with those in attendance and vice versa for the fist-pumping, high-fiving audience. The almost total absence of stage lighting is a bit unusual, but the emphasis for these shows is on the performer’s ability to get up onstage and take us on a musical journey. With Mirthrandir and Mörglbl, we got two trips in one. It was a brilliant evening.