The Seventh Dawn - Sunrise (Korean Remastered) (1976/2007)

The Seventh Dawn is nothing like any other American albums I know of, but has much more something comparable to the British folk-psych scene (Trader Horne, Ithaca/Agincourt,..). The reason for this style is that all 4 members of Seventh Dawn had written these songs when they were between 11 and 17. Ann & Heff were taking classes in electronic music, which gave them access to the labs with two synthesizers, two stereo records and one four track recorder. This protected opportunity was unspoiled by any style-pushed fashions, and had a comparable sweetness, innocence and almost pastoral purity to the best moments of the UK album of Sallyangie (with Mike Oldfield, also then only 15). The same reason why Ithaca was compared to Moody Blues (a reference which always is more symbolic, because MB never had that much of its own style-reference uniqueness in many songs), can be given here as a reference too. Just listen to the nice sweet-fuzzed guitars which flow softly like keyboards on “Such a lonely”. Another reference which is also relevant on one track, “Latecoming”. is Emtidi for its piano arrangements in combinations with the song. The female singer holds the middle of several possible references, like Vashti Bunyan (at times, like on “Sunrise”), and Trader Horn’s singer. Some people refer also to Trees’ singer Celia Humphries (which I understand, but that last comparison can be confusing). At first, the songs are sung by a female and then male vocalist, and are worked out well. Then more and more songs of Heff appear, sometimes a bit too sparsely arranged, and with tiny 60s psychpop flavours in its inspirations. It is wonderful that the album now is completed with these 4 extra surprisingly beautiful tracks, which have a welcome reappearance of the female singer, as exactly what the album needed to feel like a more perfectly finished musical concept.

PS. The album was 24-bit remastered by Jae-Soo Yi ; it is reissued in a limited edition on a mini-LP format. The original album was published as only 200 copies (Fantasy Worlds Unlimited) ; a re-edition of 275 copies was done by Project Aquarius in 1995.