While there’s no doubting Haque’s instrumental abilities, Flat Planet is no mere
chops display. Throughout the eleven tracks Haque focuses firmly on compositional
value. Each arrangement is balanced by complex ethnocentric harmonics and flavorful
melodies, where pre-constructed exposition provides plenty of group and individual
improvisation. Haque’s songwriting vision is effectively exhibited on multi-tiered
conception “The Four Corners Suite”: three parts (“North,” “South” and “West”) are
included
on the compact disc, while “East” can be downloaded online at most major
MP3 sites. The opus has a Greg Osby-esque unpredictability. “North” is a prog/fusion
feast that evokes The Mahavishnu Orchestra and some of the Tony Williams’ Lifetime
late sixties material. “South” also has a heavy-rock velocity that could be rough
on sensitive ears. The “Four Corners Suite” finishes with “West,” an easygoing escapade
that is the album’s balmiest affair and gives the 76-minute undertaking a positively
heady end. On Flat Planet, Fareed Haque and the Flat Earth Ensemble furnish an exhilarating
song collection of pan-ethnic elements brimming over with entwined instrumental prowess,
democratic interplay, and abundantly engaging music. - DOUG SIMPSON Audiophile Audition
Haque's artistry comes full circle, and full throttle with this excursion into a
music he has had in his head for years, and now we finally get to experience it first
hand. It is a unique project deserving its own singular place in the ethnic fusion
world.
