Musicians are usually fans as well, each with their own idols. Often fandom becomes audible in the wrong way, either as probably unconscious but still uncomfortable plagiarism or outright ripoffs. But there are a few - very few, to be exact - nice fan projects where a musician openly pays his/her debt to the admired artist and does it with disarming skill and style. An older case in point is Todd Rundgren´s Utopia with their deliberate Beatles soundalike album Deface The Music back in 1980 (great fun, but not as brilliant as Eric Idle and Neil Inness´ The Rutles). And more recently Robert Reed did the same in the Oldfied territory with his "more Mike than Mike" album Sanctuary.
Johannes Luley, the driving force behind the short-lived US cult prog band Moth Vellum, released in 2013 the perfect fan album that I recently heard for the first time. Tales From Sheepfather´s Grove is a beautifully constructed Yes love letter from the title to the cover art to the music itself. His cards are so openly on the table there´s no point in yapping about copying a style - not when it´s done this well, anyway.
Luley takes the pastoral/acoustic side of Yes (Wonderous Stories, And You And I etc etc - you know that stuff) and uses it as a stylistic platform for the entire album. The result is a vibrant, warm and utterly charming soundscape of Jon-esque chants and bells and drones (thankfully, Johannes does not sound like Jon), Howe-ish guitars and very Rick-y synths circa 1977-78.
This arsenal would be a moot point without the high quality of the songs themselves; they effortlessly carry on the form and the spirit of a certain period and style in the arc of another artist. In most places, it leaves some later Yes band and solo efforts staring at its tail lights.
Some might call this a useless exercise; I call this immensely enjoyable and fun. If you´re a Yes fan, do not by any means pass The Sheepfather by.
My rating: 4,5 / 5
Listen to Tales From Sheepfather´s Grove on Spotify:
