Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When the general populace think of the Mediterranean they might ruminate on the blue skies, the mixture that hangs in the air of European influence and North African desire, of wars raged, of a dusky exoticness that draws people in from all over the world and a general ambience that is hard to ignore. Those qualities are even more abundant when it comes to the islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino. Three islands in which the European influence has played out heavily across the time, from the French, the Italian states and the British, they weathered and braved terrible onslaught day after day during the Second World War and have a well-deserved reputation of being a distinctive and friendly people to the point that their music, no matter the genre, just seems so uplifting that it is cross every sphere of authorative stimulus imaginable. Chasing Pandora from Gozo are no exception.

Although on hiatus at the time of writing, with the pair actively involved in solo projects, Chasing Pandora’s 2009 E.P. Time is a group of songs that add a certain beguiling beauty to a day in which the sun never wants to fully disappear from view, in which the flow of conversation never becomes stilted or strained and into which a lyrical value of Mediterranean charm placed within a British outlook is enough to have the listener falling in love with the finished product.

Chasing Pandora are/were Melissa Potelli and Keith Anthony, together the island of Gozo must surely have been riveted by the sounds of self-expression folk music long into the night and listeners in the U.K. could only go weak at the knees in eager anticipation had they had the type of audiences to play infront of far from their natural home.

Natural home though might seem a bit strong as tidings go, for whilst the songs, Time, Bedroom, Someone and Mocking Bird might be British in their delivery, there is something sultry, exotic, flavoured and vigorous about the music on offer. It is like finding your local greengrocer which normally stocks only the mass produced apple suddenly becoming adventurous and filling its shelves with dates, pineapples and the sweetest of nectar.

To come across Chasing Pandora even after the fact, is a pleasure worth seeking out and the four songs on offer would surely only offer more of an insight into the jewels of the Mediterranean of Malta and Gozo than many would possibly imagine.

Ian D. Hall