Beatrix Players – Magnified Tour – Hoxton Hall , London, 12th May 2017 – by Rob Fisher

You would never know it was there. The automatic sliding doors give no hint of the majestic secret hidden within. Originally built in 1863, Hoxton Hall is a wonderful example of a good old fashioned saloon-style music hall, the modest central stage fronting a spacious ground floor, with impressive cast iron columns supporting two levels of galleries on all three sides. The overall effect creates a casual, relaxed and intimate atmosphere and the eager audience complete the perfect setting for tonight’s launch of the remarkable debut album ‘Magnified’ from the thrilling Beatrix Players.

The hushed murmur of voices give way to a polite ripple of applause as they take the stage and a happy silence descends as the opening notes of the haunting Rushlight gently fill the room. The insistent call of the piano gradually increases in emphasis and urgency, matched by a vocal harmony which is initially delicate but also grows with a matching power and intensity. The unwavering menace of the cello brings a grounding strength and depth as the song builds to a defiant, majestic crescendo before, passion spent, it falls away to the tranquil calm of the beginning once more.

The effect on the auditorium is spellbinding: not for the first time during the course of the evening, people are utterly enthralled and completely captivated by the graceful energy and compelling spirit of the performance. The confines of the stage enforce a close proximity between the three main musicians, which in turn accentuates and highlights the wonderfully intuitive interplay and understandings which exist between them. There is a dynamic and deeply creative relationship between keyboards, cello and voice which is delicately attuned to the shifting ebbs and flows of the rhythms of each song and which is absorbing to see unfold.

They are joined tonight by Robyn Hemmings on double bass, Jez Houghton on French horn, Maria Kroon on violin and Emanuela Monni on drums and percussion. The subtle alterations to the musical arrangements for some of the songs are breathtaking in the impact they bring. The integration of the French horn and violin in particular are absolutely inspired, creating a more open and expansive soundstage which provides greater emotional resonance and clarity of expression. Never Again and Walk Away possess a biting vitality which is not as readily apparent on the album, but with these additions is an absolute pleasure to experience live.

During the evening we are provided with some unexpected treats in the form of songs from their original EP and a beautifully moving cover of Hurt before an almost apologetic and low key introduction ushers in All That Thinking. A song about female infertility and the impact it has on relationships, the performance tonight is emotionally charged and profoundly moving. The sheer extent of the impact it has on the audience defies description and I know I was certainly not alone in being overcome and shedding a tear by the often unspoken heartbreak it creates.

One further surprise remains in store for us as the raised dias behind the main performers fills with the arrival of the SOUND choir for the final three songs. Their presence and influence is striking and uplifting, bringing new dimensions and insights to songs which, as a result, carry an embracing immediacy and sparkling warmth. The mesmerising Ophelia and the sizzling encore Roses spring to life with an astonishing and breathtaking vibrancy to mark the perfect end to a magnificent evening of stunning music.

A second concert has been announced for St Pancras Old Church on the 5th October 2017. Tickets are available now and I cannot recommend highly enough what a mesmerising, captivating and thoroughly enchanting experience awaits if you decide to go. Do not hesitate.

Setlist
Rushlight

Never Again

Walk Away

Not for the first Time

Hurt (cover)

Molehill

Elsa

High Heel Shoes

All That Thinking

Obey Me

Lady of the Lake

What Do You Say

The Road To Gordes

Ophelia

Roses

Beatrix Players are:
Amanda Alvarez – Cello
Amy Birks – Lead & Backing Vocals
Jess Kennedy – Piano, Flute, Backing Vocals

 

The Fierce And The Dead’s Matt Stevens Talks RoSFest

The legend that is Matt Stevens took time this Sunday morning to talk to me about The Fierce And The Dead’s appearance at the recent RoSFest, North America’s premier progressive rock festival.

Among other things, we talk about the tedious process of getting an artist visa, what it’s like playing in a different country, American prog fans and beer, strong beer!

(Featured image of Matt by Jose Ramon Caamano)

Review – Bjørn Riis – Forever Comes To An End – by Leo Trimming

An Airbag is a device designed to save your life or reduce injury in the event of a collision.

Can music save your life? Who knows?

But life does does bring us in to collisions with all sorts of unexpected events and we try to find ways to survive or at least lessen the impacts. From the sound and themes of Bjørn Riis’ second solo album, ‘Forever Comes to an End’ , it does seem evident that perhaps life has been impacting upon him deeply, reflected in an emotional release. Emotion is not a word usually associated with the sweeping, glacial Floydian soundscapes so beloved of Airbag, but Bjørn Riis has successfully created a more personalised album, infused with fragile feelings and delicate melodies alongside his trademark architectural sonic structures.

Bjørn Riis is the main songwriter and lead guitarist of the Norwegian Progressive rock band, Airbag, and that background is very apparent in the style of this album, although title track Forever Comes to an End does open the album in furious and heavy fashion, exploding into action immediately with Henrik Fossum of Airbag pounding out insistent driving drums. The theme of broken relationships and loss, with musings on the tension between Love and Hate are starkly focused upon in this crunching number

‘Fear, Do you Fear, Do you feel the hate…. But I’m scared to let you go out of my life…’

Bjørn Riis contrasts the darker hard riffing passages, reminiscent of Sabbath’s Toni Iommi, with occasional lighter, less intense shafts of musical sunlight, framing impassioned pleas to stay. Vocally Riis delivers this song, and the whole album, with a sense of  beautiful melancholy and yearning. This is powerful stuff in more ways than one. The brief bleak interlude soundscape of Absence atmospherically takes us to the emotive shores of The Waves, seguing with Ocean sounds as Riis intones mournfully :

‘I’ve been down for too long, I almost drowned,

There was darkness all around and it pulled me down to the deep’

In The Waves there is a fragility and emotional intensity in Riis’ voice, akin to Tim Bowness of No-Man, which gives this album a sense of honest emotion and humanity, born from personal experiences, and moves parts of this album away from the now predictable trademark Floyd style so successfully produced by Airbag on their albums. The Waves wistfully fades as the tide of the song recedes with echoes of the cinematic soundscapes of Thomas Newman film scores.

Instrumental Getaway slowly builds and builds, with layers of guitars across a sweeping canvas on synths, until a break of echoing keys and percussion is glided over by an icy guitar line. The driving rock theme returns with added wah-wah guitar, outstanding drums and riffs that more than hint at Porcupine Tree, that all add up to quite a thrilling ride. Calm shimmers with delicate beauty with a simple piano motif and acoustic guitars over lain with flute sounding keys, and then the whole piece eventually drifts away in to the distance, virtually acting as a beautiful introduction into Winter, the centrepiece of the whole album.

A gentle opening adorned with lilting acoustic guitar, over lain with subtle, tasteful  electric guitar dashes in the vein of Marillion’s Steve Rothery, express the contradictory emotional forces of resentment and forgiving, hate and love…

“Now she’s gone, but I still want her here, She stole my heart and she turned it into stone…”

This remarkable piece develops with increasing intensity as Riis builds with beautiful musical textures and Sichelle Mcmeo Aksum adds a female delicacy to the vocals, alongside Riis. The inevitable Gilmour like soaring lead guitar parts are used sparingly but effectively. Riis’ guitar is the main ‘voice’ in Winter as he uses it intuitively to emotionally express probably what words sometimes cannot say about broken relationships. A lovely bass line with uncanny echoes of Porcupine Tree’s classic ‘Dark Matter’ underpins the gradual elegiac disintegration of this great song.

A simple but touching piano melody by Simen Valldal Johannessen introduces Riis’ finely judged emotional vocal in the  final heart-breaking song Where Are You Now. Flute like keyboards float over a gradually building theme before Riis emotively illustrates this emotional song with a glistening, gliding guitar solo. The song and album finishes as Riis’ fragile vocals lead to the simple stark beauty of the opening piano motif. Heart break seldom sounds so beautiful.

There will be inevitable comparisons by some to later Pink Floyd, and fans of that band will find much to admire and touch them in this album. Sonically the production is perfect – this drips with feeling and atmosphere. Some of the songs would also not sound out of place on an Airbag album, which is inevitable considering Riis’ main role in that band. However, there is much more to ‘Forever Comes to an End’ than a Floyd pastiche or just an Airbag album by another name. Riis has really put his heart on the line on this release and such emotion exudes from the imaginative music and heartfelt lyrics on this intensely personal album.

Will this album save your life?

Very probably not, but like an Airbag ‘Forever Comes to an End’ may very well stop you getting a headache (!!) and  will certainly help you deal with the collisions and impacts of what life throws at us.

(Photos of Bjørn by Anita Stostad)

Released 19th May 2017

Order ‘Forever Comes To An End direct from the artist (Europe)

Order ‘Forever Comes To AN End from Burning Shed (UK)

NEW TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED FOR THE PINEAPPLE THIEF, FEATURING GAVIN HARRISON

The Pineapple Thief have announced the second leg of their European tour in support of the critically-acclaimed album Your Wilderness. The new dates will see the band venture into Poland and Switzerland along with shows in Germany, Czech Republic, The Netherlands and UK. See a full list below.

The band will again be joined by virtuoso Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree, King Crimson) on drums and Darran Charles (Godsticks) on guitar. As anyone who witnessed the shows earlier this year will attest, the new five-piece line-up has allowed Bruce, Steve and Jon to expand upon their signature sound, enabling the band to truly shine on stage.

For a glimpse of what to expect, fans can watch clips of the band’s sparkling performance at London’s Islington Assembly Hall here:

Tour dates

Wednesday, 6 September 2017 – Dresden, Alter Schlachtof

Thursday, 7 September 2017 – Warsaw, Progesja Music Zone

Friday, 8 September 2017 – Krakow, Kwadrat Music Club

Saturday, 9 September 2017 – Czech Republic Brno – Melodka

Sunday, 10 September 2017 – Munich, Backstage Halle

Monday, 11 September 2017 – Zurich, Dynamo

Tuesday, 12 September 2017 – Stuttgart, Universum

Wednesday, 13 September 2017 – Cologne, Luxor

Thursday, 14 September 2017 – Zoetermeer, De Boerderij

Saturday, 16 September 2017 – London, ULU

Sunday, 17 September 2017 – Bristol, Bierkeller

For more information and ticket details – http://pineapplethief.com/tour

Following a triumphant first leg, with several sold out shows, The Pineapple Thief has emerged as one of the most exciting live progressive rock acts on the circuit and a force to be reckoned with. Prog Magazine described the show as “a dynamic, dramatic experience” while Manchester Rocks commented that it’s “The Pineapple Thief, like you’ve never heard them before”.

“We can’t wait to get back on the road again!” explains band leader Bruce Soord. “Personally, I am really excited that people will have another opportunity to see and hear this fantastic line-up. Darran and Gavin have brought a whole new dimension to this band.”

The band will be performing Your Wilderness plus a string of re-imagined favourites from their back catalogue. These will be the last tour dates this year, and the final opportunity for fans to witness this line-up performing Your Wilderness in its entirety. Special guest support is from Kscope label mates Godsticks, who will be performing brand new material from their upcoming fourth album.

Your Wilderness is the 11th studio album from The Pineapple Thief. For the first time, the band brought in several special guest performers: Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree) contributed drums throughout the album, John Helliwell (Supertramp) some beautiful clarinet parts, and Geoffrey Richardson (Caravan) provided a string quartet. They were also joined by a 4-piece choir and to cap it all off, Darran Charles (Godsticks) added some jaw dropping guitar playing.

One of the most exciting bands to come out of the UK progressive rock scene in recent times, The Pineapple Thief was formed in 1999 by founder and chief songwriter Bruce Soord. The band has steadily evolved and refined its sound with the bass playing of Jon Sykes and the production and keyboards of Steve Kitch vital ingredients of the unmistakable TPT sound.

The Pineapple Thief online:

Website: www.thepineapplethief.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thepineapplethief

Twitter: www.twitter.com/pineapplethief

Instagram: www.instagram.com/thepineapplethief

Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/artist/4lrBMUSk8PiNnCEZfsmPAk

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE6401DB011BD837E

Apple Music: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/the-pineapple-thief/id278648772

Gandalf’s Fist announce “Fistival” – One-Off Headline Performance in Workington, Cumbria.

UK Progressive Rock act, Gandalf’s Fist, have announced a special one-off headlining performance which they have coined simply as “Fistival”.

Commandeering the Carnegie Theatre in Workington, Cumbria, the 4th August show marks a homecoming for the band, capping off a hugely successful 12 months which has heralded the release of their acclaimed triple album, ‘The Clockwork Fable’; the Abbey Road mastered Vinyl release of ‘The Lamplighter’s Tale’; an unplugged session on ‘BBC Introducing’ and a blistering headline performance of the 2nd Stage at HRH Prog Festival.

Fistival promises to be a unique experience, with ‘the Fist’ promising to build on their “prog-roc-pantomime” with further theatrical shenanigans and full-stage projections.

The band are also offering a free digital download of ‘The Clockwork Fable’; with every ticket purchase. The free download, which features guest appearances from the likes of Arjen Lucassen, Blaze Bayley, Dr Who cast members and even Zach “Billy Peltzer” Galligan from Gremlins, is a stunning 3 hour window into the wacky world of Gandalf’s Fist and is surely the ideal preparation for what is sure to be a memorable performance.

Tickets for Fistival are currently on sale now via  the Carnegie official box office: https://carnegietheatre.ticketsolve.com/shows/873572691

Review – Syncage – Unlike Here – by James R Turner

Many years ago, there was TV show that featured a catchphrase, ‘and now for something completely different’,  and it got so overused that it became a cliché. However, after having been playing this debut album by Italian quartet Syncage for a week or so and wondering the best way to introduce it in review, that aforementioned phrase seems the only appropriate way to open with.

Considering there’s only 4 of them (aided on more of the symphonic sounds by a string quartet), they run the whole gamut of sounds and styles (including the art rock of School, with its catchy riffs and angular lyrics). The only thing I can say they even vaguely remind me of is from the first time I saw Ritual in concert, and it’s not because of the sound of the band (as Syncage sound nothing like Ritual), but more the impact they made, as I had never heard anything like it before in my life, and believe me, I mean that as a compliment.

Having been together for the past ten years since they were teenagers, you can tell that the band have grown up together, as only musicians who have clicked and know each other as well as these 4 do can make this sort of intricate and exciting music.

From the wonderful sounds on Still Unaware, with some haunting violin pieces courtesy of Matteo Graziani (who also provides the retro Hammond sounds), they mix and match genres so adeptly, switching from free form jazz and into a bit of acoustic guitar and back again with aplomb, none of this is showing off, it’s just what the music demands.

I have to also mention the amazing vocals of Matteo Nicolin as well, as he has such a diverse range from a soaring falsetto to more subtle vocals. He treats his voice as another instrument to put into the mix and it’s this attitude that makes the vocal sound on this album unique and distinctive.

There is an excellent juxtaposition of light and dark on this album, evident on tracks like Skyline Shift, which has some amazing guitar work from Nicolin, whilst Matteo’s brother Riccardo is a superb drummer/percussionist. He helps to build the sound in tandem with Daniele Tarabini, who provides some superbly fluid bass lines, and helps flesh the sound out with his flute work.

Stones Can’t Handle Gravity is a fantastic piece that showcases the acoustic side of the band with flute and violin adding so much to the sound.

Every track on this album is superbly produced and put together, you can tell that they’ve really put their hearts and souls into this album. There are two epics on here. Edelweiss, clocking in at over 14 minutes, starts with some wonderful spoken word lyrics, creating the idea of a story rather than just a song, whilst the violin builds and builds with some amazing guitar work that heads into heavier territory. As long songs go, it’s more than just a song, it’s a musical journey that is well worth going on and I can imagine that live it’s pretty bloody epic.

The other epic that closes the album, Unlike There (at just over 9 minutes long), is a microcosm of everything that makes Syncage great, from some truly astonishing string sounds that flow through the track, to the combination of the drum and bass sounds as it flows and grows. Add in some brilliant guitar and keyboard work throughout and then those vocals, wow! had I mentioned how great a vocalist Matteo Nicolin is?

This is an incredibly intelligent, superbly performed and brilliantly realised debut album, from an assured, confident and fantastic new sound.

All credit to Syncage for pulling this amazing album together, and all credit to those Bad Elephants for having the vision to release something as groundbreaking as this.

(All band photography by Filippo Tommaso Catelan.)

Released May 5th 2017

Buy ‘Unlike Here’ from bandcamp

 

An Interview With Rikard Sjöblom – by Progradar

On the early May Bank Holiday Monday Rikard Sjöblom of Gungfly, Big Big Train and (formerly) Beardfish took the time to have a chat with me about the new Gungfly album ‘On Her Journey To The Sun’ and we also discussed ‘Grimspound’, the new Big Big Train release, the demise of Beardfish and lorry driving.

Listen to the full audiofile here:

You can also read Kevin Thompson’s excellent review of (and find a link to order) the new album here:

Review – Rikard Sjöblom’s Gungfly – On Her Journey To The Sun – by Kevin Thompson

 

 

Steven Wilson – New album August 18th 2017… massive global 2018 tour announced…

Steven Wilson has announced details of To The Bone – his expansive, brilliant fifth album – and a major 2018 UK tour including a return to one of the country’s most iconic venues, the Royal Albert Hall. Pre-order the album here.

A gloriously dynamic modernist pop record as imagined by the UK’s biggest underground artist,

To The Bone is released August 18th via Caroline International on CD / 2 x 12” / Blu-Ray / super deluxe box set and all digital platforms.

Fusing driving futurist rock and spectral electronics to elegiac hyper-space ambience and dizzying, squalling guitars, To The Bone is Steven Wilson’s hat-tip to the hugely ambitious progressive pop records of his youth (think Peter Gabriel’s So, Talk Talk’s Colour of Spring, Tears for Fears Seeds of Love).

Lyrically, the album’s eleven tracks veer from the paranoid chaos of the post-truth era and the creeping self-loathing of the technology age to steely fly-on-the-wall observations of the everyday lives of religious fundamentalists with a welcome shot or two of wide-eyed escapism. Sonically and melodically stunning, To The Bone is a high definition snapshot of the disconcerting times we live in.

The follow up to 2015’s Hand. Cannot. Erase. (“a smart, soulful and immersive work of art” the Guardian 5*), To The Bone is Steven Wilson’s first album since signing with Caroline International (Iggy Pop, Underworld, Thurston Moore, Glass Animals). Formerly the founder and mainstay of outsider rock band Porcupine Tree, Steven released his first record under his own name – Insurgentes – in 2008. He has been resolutely independent throughout a three-decade career that’s made him the most successful British artist you’ve never heard of.

Listen to ‘Pariah’ from the new album here:

Steven Wilson has announced details of a huge global tour that takes in over one hundred shows across all five continents including a 25 date US tour that sees him return to the renowned Beacon Theatre, NY after last year’s sell out there. His European dates are:

Wed 31st Jan              Portugal, Lisbon, Sala Tejo at the MEO Arena

Thu 1st Feb                 Spain, Madrid, Wiznik Centre

Sat 3rd Feb                  Spain, Barcelona, L’Auditori

Sun 4th Feb                 France, Marseille, Silo

Tue 6th Feb                France, Lyon, Le Transbordeur

Wed 7th Feb               Switzerland, Zurich, Halle 622

Fri 9th Feb                  Italy, Milan, Teatro Degli Arcimboldi

Sat 10th Feb                Italy, Rome, Atlantico

Mon 12th Feb             Germany, Frankfurt, Alte Oper

Tue 13th Feb              Germany, Ravensburg, Oberachwabenhalle

Wed 14th Feb             Austria, Vienna, Gasometer

Thu 15th Feb              Germany, Berlin, Admiralpalast

Sat 17th Feb                Poland, Zabrze, House of Music and Dance

Sun 18th Feb              Poland, Poznan, Earth Hall

Tue 20th Feb              Germany, Hamburg, Mehr Theatre

Sat 24th Feb                Finland, Helsinki, The Circus

Mon 26th Feb             Sweden, Stockholm, Cirkus

Tue 27th Feb              Norway, Oslo, Oslo Concert House

Wed 28th Feb             Norway, Bergen, USF Verftet

Thu 1st Mar                Norway, Stavanger, Konserthuset – Zetlitz

Sat 3rd Mar                Denmark, Copenhagen, Vega Main Hall

Mon 5th Mar               Germany, Essen, Colosseum

Wed 7th Mar               The Netherlands, Amsterdam, Heineken Music Hall

Fri 9th Mar                  Belgium, Brussels, AB

Sat 10th Mar               Luxembourg, Rockhal Club

Mon 12th Mar             France, Paris, The Olympia

Tue 13th Mar              France, Lille, Theatre Sebastopol

 

Sat 17th Mar            Belfast Mandela Hall

Mon 19th Mar           Dublin Olympia Theatre

Wed 21st Mar           Cardiff St David’s Hall

Thu 22nd Mar           Birmingham Symphony Hall

Sat 24th Mar             Glasgow Clyde Auditorium

Sun 25th Mar            Gateshead Sage 1

Tue 27th Mar           London Royal Albert Hall

Sat 31st Mar             Manchester Bridgewater Hall

Tickets for the UK tour are on sale from 10am Friday 12th May (with a fan only pre-sale on Wednesday 10th May).

To The Bone tracklisting:

 

  1. To The Bone
  2. Nowhere Now
  3. Pariah
  4. The Same Asylum As Before
  5. Refuge
  6. Permanating
  7. Blank Tapes
  8. People Who Eat Darkness
  9. Song of I
  10. Detonation
  11. Song of Unborn

The super deluxe box set features the album, a CD of outtakes and demos, a Blu Ray, a DVD, a fully illustrated book and a one-sided 7” single featuring non-album track.

For more information, contact Robin at Turner Hall.

Steven Wilson website / online shop / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram/ Spotify complete discography.

 

Review – Heresy – Prufrock – by James R Turner

American prog band Heresy have been inactive since the late 1980’s, and now they return with their 3rd album ‘Prufrock’, an adaptation of the T S Eliot poem, now, I’ll be honest here I am unfamiliar with both Heresy and Eliot’s’ work, whilst I know he also wrote The Wasteland, and he’s influenced a variety of different artists when it came to poetry I was always a Seamus Heaney or Simon Armitage reader, and yet, like the work of the Alan Parsons Project you don’t have to be familiar with the source material to enjoy this album.

Yes, there’s bound to be a comparison with both APP and indeed the very English prog sound of Looking Glass Lantern, who have made two highly accessible and intelligent adaptations of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books. This is no bad thing, because when musical adaptations on literary themes work well, they work incredibly well, and Heresy hit the spot here, the music and lyrics combine to create an eminently listenable piece of music that flows beautifully.

The album is split into two main suites, The love song of J Alfred Prufrock pts 1 & 2, which are neatly choreographed song suites that segue beautifully, with the hook line, ‘In the room, the women come and go, talking ‘bout Michelangelo’, refrained throughout the whole album, and is a line that will stick with you all day, and with the core band expanded by such musical sounds as flute, trumpet, sax and violin the musical palette they create is expansive and never loses it focus or impact.

The vocals from Tony Garone are superb throughout, with one of those wonderfully warm voices that is at turns sympathetic and empathetic to the material that the band are creating, a heady mix of rock, symphonica, baroque and whatever else fits the bill, having been 30 years in the conception you can tell the band have crafted the album round the source work, rather than shoehorn the poem into some music, and it’s this attention to detail and care taken to present the poem as a whole that really makes this album stand out from the crowd, and the linking piece of Night Vigil that splits the main suites in two is a far heavier piece, with some ominous guitar and keyboard sounds (and a very Floydian feel) apparently it is a part of the poem that was lost, and only included in later editions published after Eliot’s death (kind of like the deluxe edition of the poem if you will) and has a touch of the Van Der Graaf Generators about it, with the sax sound and vocals.

There is beautiful piano and guitar work throughout this album, and anyone who says the idea of a concept album is dead should be locked in a room and made to listen to this, this sounds amazing, is superbly consistent throughout and whilst Heresy are American they have made one of the most English sounding albums for a while.

As a bonus on the album there’s a track from a Tony Garone solo album, and 6 tracks from their debut previously unavailable on CD before, wisely these have been added on to the end, as the style, unsurprisingly is different from ‘Prufrock’, and they are worth listening to, so you can see how Heresy have developed as writers and performers.

This is well made, intelligent and complete album that will happily sit on the shelf of anyone who enjoys literary progressive rock, and is happy to immerse themselves in the album for an hour or so, as this is one of those beautiful records where you need to switch off social media, ignore the cats, pop on the headphones and lose yourself in the music, and after all at the end of the day, what more could anyone want from a record?

Released 5th December 2016

Buy ‘Prufrock’ on CD or Download via Amazon or iTunes

 

 

Review – SΔCRED ΔPE – SΔCRED ΔPE – by Progradar


“I like a lot of the new synthwave music, the way they use the sounds from the 80s but with a modern production techniques such as sidechaining etc, also I like that you can use that retro setting to not be so afraid of using musical cliche’s, as with Arcade Messiah, I spend most of the time composing avoiding cliches, if you know what I mean?”

One man musical marvel John Bassett talking to me about his new  Synthwave/Synthpop side project SΔCRED ΔPE (I have no idea why we have the Delta sign instead on an ‘A’ either so don’t ask…).

John Bassett is a colossus of the music world, maybe best known as the front man of powerful psychedelic rockers KingBathmat, this talented musician, producer and engineer is also the man behind the instrumental behemoth that is Arcade Messiah. He has also found time to release some rather more chilled and laid back solo acoustic music as well.

Not content with this, John decided to explore his love of 80’s synth music and the more modern ‘Darkwave’ and ‘Synthwave’ genres. Why? well it appears it was just because he could!

When I told John it made me feel as if I was going back to the 80’s he replied:

“…cool, that’s the idea, its a weird one for me as its probably the most personal album I’ve made and covers quite a few problems of late, yet a lot of it has a happy feel to it…”

The album opens with the driving synth of Horn, a dynamic and powerful instrumental that brings to mind Kraftwerk with touches of Jean-Michel Jarre. A swirling synthesiser corrals the troops before we head off on a hell for leather ride. It’s grin inducing and has an utterly addictive and carefree feel to it. Like a melting pop of all the electronic influences from the 70’s, through the 80’s and 90’s and landing in the noughties, my 49-year old ears are picking up all sorts of nuggets of brilliance. Mr Bassett has, once again, brought his magic to another musical style.

Asleep At The Wheel (Part 1) is a much more dark and brooding affair with John’s monotone vocal delivery giving a very dystopian sci-fi feel to the track. The music has a real methodical and relentless tempo, giving an alien tone and the ominous and darkly atmospheric aura created by the Delphian keyboards envelops everything. A mystical and deeply enigmatic three minutes of music indeed.

A pure nod to the 1980’s with it’s synthesier and drum machine brilliance, Birds Fall From The Sky is upbeat and dynamic and John lends his vocals to the mix once again. The catchy synth lines and addictive tempo have me hooked. It’s nostalgic and up-to-date at the same time and leaves me reminiscing abut days down the disco when I was in my 20’s and had hair (no laughing), this man is a musical genius. I found myself transfixed just letting the sepia tinged musical memories come flooding back but feeling that they are also of this time and place as well and that’s a very clever trick.

An eerily laid back synth note opens I Want To Go Back To The Happy House and this unassuming yet delectable piece of music saunters into view, like a lazy, hazy summers day brought to life by music. The keyboard tones are all late 70’s in feel and mood, like early Ultravox or Simple Minds before they discovered fame. It’s a chilled, easy going and lighthearted piece of music where every note passes in an undemanding and mellow vibe.

Season Of The Damned takes some of the John Bassett solo music and blends it artfully with this more synth-heavy style. John’s vocal is heartfelt and earnest and there’s a guitar note dripping with sincerity, matched by the haunting keyboards. As opposed to the other songs on this release, this is instantly recognisable as being from John, it couldn’t be anyone else. This track still feels as if it belongs on the album though, there is no disparity in the musical feel and tone as there is also no 70’s or 80’s influence.

Walking On Ice is like Depeche Mode and Gary Numan did a collaboration and I love it. The forceful synthesiser tone and drums give it a compelling and forceful edge while the rest of music paints soundscapes in your mind. The chorus brings to mind Flock Of Seagulls to this refugee of the 80’s but with modern production techniques everything has a gloss and patina of class and panache. Another track that just puts a huge grin on my face, it’s almost as if John wrote this song for my younger self, the memories come flooding back and I’m just lost in the reverie.

Wonderfully nostalgic in feel and delicate in tone, Asleep At The Wheel (Part 2) makes your emotions well up with its beautiful simplicity and ethereal quality. John’s vocal is ghostly and sublime and the music has an otherworldly ambience to it, especially the haunting nature of the piano but then everything comes to a halt and the song segues into something much more enigmatic, dark and primal in its ambience. The music becomes a dominant force, John’s vocals assertive and commanding and you feel compelled to follow wherever it may lead, a great end to the song and the album.

John Bassett never stands still when it comes to the music he creates and he is never afraid to explore new avenues or take influences from the past or current musical scenes and he’s never let me down yet. With SΔCRED ΔPE John has done it again and created music that just hits the spot on every level. As nostalgia it works perfectly, taking you back through the decades on a wonderful sonic mystery tour and yet it is also bang up to date with the current synth inspired generation. I, for one, just wonder where this musical magicians mind is going to take us next and I can’t wait to find out!

Released 21st April 2017

Buy SΔCRED ΔPE from bandcamp