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"Just when you think you never want to hear another “fusion” effort again, out pops a talent so prodigious, you’re forced to re-examine your perspectives. The Unseen Guest – musicians Declan Murray from Ireland and Amith Narayan from India – is one of those bands that dole out paradigm shifts with every listen and ‘Listen My Son’ is the perfect example"

ROLLING STONE (INDIA) ****

“The Unseen Guest is an unusual global collision, but they dovetail beautifully on 2nd album Checkpoint. Declan and Amith make exotic folk with bags of melody"

UNCUT (UK) (April 2007) ****

.. "The musicianship is astounding, the vocals are delightfully synergistic and the song-writing is genius. The mix is clean; there is a colorful blend of instruments and a brilliant rhythm section. The lyrics are profound and extremely poetic"

NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS (USA)

"The Unseen Guest have managed to produce another album of real quality which is not afraid to embrace all its cultural influences while maintaining an engaging and emotional dusty blues core"

THE MAG (UK)

“The follow up to 2005’s ‘Out There’, ‘Checkpoint’ amounts to one giant leap for duo Declan Murray and Amith Narayan…….. an uplifting collection of refreshingly well-composed songs that prove The Unseen Guest to be as well versed in the Human condition as they are in the geography of the world”

LOSING TODAY (USA)

The Unseen Guest - "Listen my son" - LIVE in Saigon, Vietnam
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BIOGRAPHY

Checkpoint, like the first album of The Unseen Guest, beautifully weaves two influences into a seamless whole. The instrumentation combines bluesy melodies (check out the harmonica work of Curtis King on Miracle Mile) with elements from pop, folk, rock and free jazz. To describe the album as a combination of the best of eastern and western musical styles would not be an exaggeration. The album closes with an excellent rendition of Leonard Cohen's Everybody Knows, which is familiar yet new, with a beautiful string arrangement.

It is only on a second listening that the listener realizes that some of the album's sounds are distinctively Indian - percussion instruments like the dholaks on Ancient Greek, and the ganjra on the Whitest Lie. The tablas pop nicely, the sax is rich and one can feel the dusty roads of India in Declan's voice. The listener gets a continual variety of pleasant surprises through-out!

Imagine a jailhouse where you're always free...

At times world weary, at times full of joy, Checkpoint is a traveller's diary, full of witnessed dualities and memories recorded on the spur of the moment. Not the clichés of East and West, but the stuff of novels and good movies: wanderlust versus security, love versus cynicism, the wildness of Saturday night and the regrets of Sunday morning.

Checkpoint is an apt title for the Unseen Guest's second album. With it, Declan and Amith acknowledge the successful musical territory of their first album - but they keep moving forward. A solid collection of eleven songs, Checkpoint combines the best of two (or more) worlds. The Unseen Guest have produced yet another beautiful dusty snapshot of life on the road, one you can sing and dance to!

Checkpoint by the Unseen Guest: Two men, two countries, one fine album! _____________________________________________________________