I knew this was “my” record before the opening riff of Mau-Olhado had fully played out.

Papangu speak my musical language: Zeuhl, neo-prog, space rock, a tiny touch of fusion, the good kind, mind you, not the pointless theatrics whose main purpose seems to be proving that the musicians can do things the rest of us mortals cannot.

But what struck me most about Celestial was not the influences.

It was the maturity of this music.

From what I learned about them, Papangu are a young band. Their first record came out only a few years ago, and from what I understand, they started much closer to stoner rock than to progressive music.

And yet on Celestial I hear a band that understands something many bands never learn: that the music comes first.

Let me explain.

Papangu have plenty of musical ability. From the opening notes to the last bars, you hear how good they are.

And yet nowhere on this record do you hear their egos.

I find that impressive.

In spite of the complexity of their music, none of it sounds like complexity for its own sake. Nobody's playing to prove something, regardless of whether that something serves the music or not.

Papangu do not do that here.

The playing is complex, but it never feels like a display. The arrangements are dense, but they don’t feel overstuffed. Everything feels as if it belongs to the piece, not the players.

Another amazing proof of their maturity is the compositions themselves.

Papangu base their music on repetition. But they avoid the most common mistake similar bands make. They develop their music not through sudden changes, the simplest way to break a pattern, but through slow shifts and movement.

Here, nothing jumps out at you. Instead, an instrument begins to break away from the pattern. Only slightly at first. Someone introduces a tiny shift here, a small increase in intensity there. Perhaps another line starts weaving through the repetition. Eventually, you realize that something dropped out, and something else took over, and you are somewhere else now.

This is a very difficult way of composing such music. And one that requires restraint and, well, maturity.

Don't get me wrong, there are surprises on Celestial, too. But again, they are used in moderation. The harmonica part that appears out of nowhere in Taxidermia made me smile.

I did not see it coming at all, but once it arrived, it made perfect sense.

I suppose that’s the biggest revelation of this record: everything on it makes perfect sense.

That is not a small feat for any band.

It is even bigger for one this young.

Bravo.