Rafael Pacha with the Friends of Confusion – Not Normal After Music (Seacrest Oy, 2026)
Rafael Pacha has become one of progressive rock’s most industrious musical polymaths, a multi-instrumentalist and composer whose fingerprints appear on numerous progressive rock and progressive folk recordings. His work within the Seacrest orbit, particularly alongside Kimmo Pörsti, The Samurai of Prog, and The Guildmaster, has established him as a musician with little interest in stylistic border control. Earlier solo releases drew considerable strength from the collision of Celtic folk traditions and progressive rock, where acoustic delicacy could suddenly find itself sharing a room with labyrinthine arrangements.
On Not Normal After Music, however, Pacha opens another door and discovers jazz fusion waiting behind it. The transition produces mixed results. At its best, the jazz vocabulary gives Pacha fresh territory to explore. Metheny-esque guitar passages possess elegance, while the masterful fretless performs with acrobatic authority. At other moments, smooth-jazz saxophone appears with all the manners of music designed not to disturb anyone in an executive lounge. The Latin jazz excursions leave me similarly unconvinced.
Fortunately, Pacha has not surrendered his progressive and folk instincts at customs. They remain conspicuous throughout the record and account for many of its strongest passages.
The Genesis-flavored “Plowman of the Sky” and “Wonder if I’ll Be” stand out comfortably above the pack. “Plowman of the Sky,” in particular, is the album’s commanding centerpiece. Across 18 minutes, Pacha allows ideas room to develop. Male and female voices intersect and diverge; melodies evolve; instrumental combinations continually alter the perspective; and the music rises and retreats with genuine dramatic intelligence. The piece can shift from pastoral reflection to full progressive grandeur.
Both “Plowman of the Sky” and “Wonder if I’ll Be” also reveal Pacha at his most persuasive as an instrumentalist. His stellar guitar solos pand pastoral flute passages reconnect the album with the folk sensibility that has served him so well elsewhere. Alessandro Di Benedetti and Paula Pörsti supply accomplished guest vocals, adding contrasting personalities without reducing the songs to an overcrowded celebrity roll call.
Kimmo Pörsti proves indispensable. His drumming gives the more elaborate pieces a firm backbone, while his production skills preserves the meticulous quality associated with Seacrest releases, The Samurai of Prog, and The Guildmaster. Meanwhile, the extensive cast of guests further strengthens the record.
Musicians: Rafael Pacha on guitars, low whistle, keyboards, zither, recorders, percussion, electric violin, viola da gamba, bass; Risto Salmi on sax; Alessandro Di Benedetti on vocals, keyboards; Michael Manring on Zon Hyperbass; Paula Pörsti on vocals; Jan-Olof Strandberg on bass; John Wilkinson on vocals; Toni Jokinen on guitar.