Dazed #9: Wacky Americans and furious Swedes: Birds & Buildings, Cirrus Bay, Arch Enemy

First, a little preamble.

The other day I waded through the debut album Disobey by the Scottish band Comedy of Errors and was reminded of all the mediocre stuff that's as plentiful in this genre as in any other. The shadows of Genesis and Marillion loom large and long in the British prog scene and sometimes UK prog bands just get stuck under them. Now, I have read and heard that C.o.E. are a charming live band - a certain personality does comes through the essentially recycled music - but what I'm hearing is a very much a Fish-era Marillion re-run, only played with a little less skill and a lot less bravado and originality. It's competent but not much more. I don't mean to be too negative to an obviously sincere and long-standing band... but this is how I feel.

The reason for the whine above is three bands I have played these past few days: Birds and Buildings, Cirrus Bay and Arch Enemy. They have absolutely nothing in common, except that even when they acknowledge their respective musical heritages, they have the assurance and skill to move freely and express themselves within them. You may wonder what an über-metal band like Arch Enemy is doing in this posting, but you'll find out...

Birds and Buildings come from Washington DC and are a totally new aquaintance to me. Their debut Bantam to Behemoth (2008) is awesome; rarely have I been this impressed by a band's first album. This has been described in bandcamp.com as "a child of Crimson, Happy the Man and Gentle Giant" which is pretty accurate, but I think there's not that much KC and GG and much more of the trippily creative, jazzy and playful Gong. Pretty much the same can be said of the more recent Multipurpose Trap (2013) though the songs are now notably shorter.



B&B have a distinctive own sound: pretty aggressive (fuzz bass and everything) and there's an intriguing sense of near-hysteria and almost apocalyptic undercurrent enhanced by song titles like "Tunguska", "Terra Fire", "Yucátan 65: The Agitation Of The Mass" and so on. The playing is fierce and virtuosic but never in a showy manner; the pieces are very well composed, not just a series of impossible riffs, and there are shimmering lyrical passages that appear in the middle of the sonic storm

 Cirrus Bay, from the state of Washington, are in many ways the polar opposite of B&B. They are far from the most technically accomplished band in the world - the playing is downright clumsy at times - but they proudly do their own thing: somewhat folksy, quite positive, occasionally slightly epic/romantic and always cheerfully melodic semi or crossover prog. If reference bands have to be mentioned, I'd say Camel and occasionally Mike Oldfield, but with a more relaxed (American?) attitude.
 
The new album, The Search For Joy, is a pleasure. The female lead vocals are charming and the vocal harmonies likewise. Their biggest sin may be the sameness of the material but I like the natural quality of the overall sound and the obvious pleasure they get from playing this stuff. As a positive prog mood lifter and bringer of good cheer this goes down very nicely, thank you.

Finally, a few words on extreme metal. Arch Enemy's latest album, War Eternal, has formally nothing whatsoever to do with prog. It's all-out metal, with frighteningly intense growl vocals by Alissa White-Glutz (stunning successor to the by now iconic Angela Gossow), suitably macabre themes and all the furnishings of the genre.

But it's also a dazzling display of incredible musicianship: there are thousands of little details in the arrangements, the band's ability to create nuances in the firestorm is amazing, not to mention the sheer nerve of putting all those almost achingly beautiful guitar melodies in the center of so many songs. Just listen to a track like "Time Is Black" and marvel. Few prog bands can cram this many notes, ideas, dynamic subtleties, virtuoso playing and dashing dramatic bravado into four minutes. Goddamn marvelous, it is.

Dazed #8: RPWL's "Beyond" + "Wanted"

The German band RPWL has been one of my pet likes for a few years now. Originally a Pink Floyd tribute band, they quickly progressed into their own and already the first albums carry only traces of their Floydian past.

The title of their 2010 Best of... album is The Gentle Art of Music and that sums them up nicely. Capable of unleashing a wall of sound when they want, they have focused mainly on a rich, melodic style with a great sense of harmonic nuance - very much my kind of stuff :). I think they got better by the album, and 2008's The RPWL Experience, especially the special edition, was close to masterful. After that came the aforementioned compilation, and eventually the two latest albums, Beyond Man And Time (2012) and Wanted (2014) which together make up a story about existence, religion, repression and freedom of thought.

I was excited to finally sink my claws into the two-part story, but my initial reaction was less than enthusiastic. Beyond... kind of drifted by and Wanted seemed outright boring in places. But I'm happy to say Beyond... needed only a second listen to open up. It's a pretty muted, evenly paced album; even the guitar-driven single Unchain the Earth is a moderate rocker that pulses rather than bounces along. So a casual listening session is not necessarily the way to approach it. The music is carefully constructed, with hooks embedded beneath the surface. No baroque elaborations are there to immediately catch your ear, and I believe that's very much deliberate. It grows on you as you listen. The 16-minute epic The Fisherman is quite succesful and both the title track and the album closer The Noon are breathtakingly beautiful.

Having said that, Wanted still causes some problems for me. To my taste, there are too many plodding, off-the-production-line songs with mainstream guitar rock leanings, too much synth sequencing and some pretty unimaginative songwriting; the title track, for instance, does nothing for me. Not that there are no good moments. The album actually gets better towards the end and the majestic Misguided Thought may be among the band's all time best.

Summing up, I would have done a bit more editing and song selection and come up with one absolute killer of an 80-minute album. As things are, in my books Beyond... is very good and Wanted way too uneven but serviceable with its bright monents.

As a band, RPWL proudly continue their own path and I highly commend them for doing so. I will stay tuned for more...

Dazed #7: "Utopia" by Heart of Cygnus - some thoughts on the difference of paying tribute and mimicing others

Fandom to tribute to mimicry to plagiarism - where do we draw the lines?

I could not help but ask myself that question when listening to Utopia, the 2007 debut album by Heart of Cygnus. I have backtracked the band's catalogue, starting from 2012's The Voyage of Jonas, and I've noted that even though they still have recognizable Rush influences, the outright copying of certain Rush signatures is giving way to their own voice and sound. Which is very good for H.o.C., because their first offering practically mimics the early Rush sound and themes (ca. 1975-78) and, let's be honest, even the 2112 story, to such detail that I can only image what G., A. and N. would think if they heard this...

Now, there are no instances of outright copying on Utopia, except for the storyline and concept so obviously mirrored from 2112. Instead, the band seems to have decided to summon up and integrate the essence of vintage Rush into themselves, producing music that comes from an alternate universe where Rush decided to stick with the style they had in 1978 instead of moving on to explore other musical areas.

The result is almost spooky. The album begins with a Broon's Bane avatar and proceeds to guitar sounds and riffing straight from Caress... and 2112; likewise the drumming. The bass is less busy than Geddy's but the synths were probably stolen from his basement. The songs themselves overflow with familiar-sounding hooks and turns and we end up with a "ghost of a Rush", so to say. I have to admit I did enjoy the experience: these guys are obviously HUGE Rush fans and what they have done here has been commited in the spirit of fandom, I have no doubt about it.

But it can't be shrugged off that they have put on another band's clothes and gone for a walk in the city streets, probably hoping to be noticed. And that's where the questions begin. Why could they not just drop hints and references and give nods to their heroes in the songs, instead of creating this parallel reality? Couldn't they satisfy their addiction by playing Rush tribute gigs and then concentrated on honing their own material? And can adopting an entire style be called plagiarism even if no one particular song has been ripped off? I have no answers, neither will I ponder on this for hours - there are lawyers paid to do that. But I'm just wondering...

Also, it must be noted that on Utopia there are a couple of fantastic brianmay doppelgängers and amazingly pinkfloyd acoustic moments, so it's not just Rush whose DNA they can extract ;)

But finally: I do sympathize with these guys. They are fans themselves, they are skilled and respectable musicians, I have enjoyed their albums and wish them all the best... and hope they continue on their good journey to evolve into their very own selves before some lawyer comes knocking on their door.

Dazed #6: "Until Never", "Chain Reaction" and "EEFP"

What's prog? I sure has hell don't know, but an awful lot of different kinds of music are label "prog" even if the specimens have precious little in common with each other. Not that I mind - it's great to just hunt the web for new prog and end up with all these wildly different but equally brilliant bands and albums :)

Earlier this week I ended my Big Big Train marathon with their latest, the awesome aural twin towers known as English Electric, Full Power. It's an almost perfect set: no clunkers, precious little doodling around and a sense of a hazy English sunset enveloping the proceedings. There's also very little "hard prog" on the album; I'd call this Cinematic or Narrative Rock instead of prog. The way the pastoral and majestic blend with the rocking and modern is somehow utterly British; this music could not have come from any other place. There are the fleeting nods and audible influences, to Beatles, Genesis, Tull and XTC and some more esoteric predecessors: I swear I can hear Roy Wood's Wizzard's "Wear A Fast Gun" reflected in the awesome hymn-like brass arrangements of "Swan Hunter", one of the cornerstones of the album. Labels mean nothing - I just love this album.

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Switching gears, I was delighted to discover the Israeli prog metal band Distorted Harmony had released their second album, Chain Reaction. The debut, Utopia, I thought was excellent, a very impressive entrance, way more colorful and adventurous than most prog metal. Therefore I may be just a teensy weensy bit... not disappointed but slightly "they could have jumped the tracks a bit more on this one." In a word, this is more mainstream in its genre that the debut was (like Haken's 2nd was to their 1st). But: in the genre, it shines. DH have such a sure command in what they do, it's just a pleasure. And if the final track, the 8-minute "Methylene Blue", is anything like an omen for things to come, I believe we are in for something really grand in a year or two.

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To close this chapter, I just have to recommend Lalle Larsson's fairly new album Until Never. I praised Lalle's earlier stuff some days ago (see Dazed #4), but this one is utterly different. The previous albums charted the prog waters from poetic Nordic melancholy to fiery Middle East -influenced almost-metal, in a grand style. They were band albums but this one features just Lalle, the bass guru Jonas Reingold and Richard Hallebeek on acoustic guitar. And no, this one is not prog at all, unless prog has become a generic word for anything that's not pop/rock by today's standards.

This is sparse, incredibly nuanced and glowing music. Jazzy, but not jazz. Melodic but uncompromising. Often heartbreaking but not saccharine. Quiet but not timid or flat. The only reference that comes to my mind are Pat Metheny's certain compositions and albums from the more romantic/elegiac end of his stylistic spectrum. Sunset music, songs for departures, solitary travellers and last calls. You know what it is, and it needs no labels. Go listen.

Dazed #5: Some ambivalent feelings - Transatlantic's "Kaleidoscope" and Ian Anderson's "Homo Erraticus"

I'm well aware that Transatlantic enjoys massive support among the prog community. I have nothing whatsoever against the band, but have always found them a little... insubstantial? The extremely long tracks flow along nicely and I like the overall sound, but there's little that has really caught my ear. For all their progginess, they seem content to stay within their comfort zone, somewhere between DT, FK and SB.

The same goes for their latest album Kaleidoscope I listened to a couple of days ago. The playing can't be criticized but again I find myself wishing for either more challenge and/or more outright hooks in the songwriting. Somehow I get this "it's all kinda same" feeling from this. It's nice and pleasurable enough for a prog fan, sure, but that final spark or exciting idea just isn't there for me. I'll probably put this and the other Transatlantic albums on when cleaning the house and doing the dishes, but focused listening... most likely not.

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I'm just as ambivalent toward Ian Anderson's recent Homo Erraticus. I've played it through twice now, and it may benefit from further listening, but I slightly doubt it. The entire album is soooo very Jethro Tull from start to finish I believe the only reason why it's not a Tull album is the absence of any former Tull members. With a whole new set of players, Anderson has conjured forth the Tull sound so precisely I had to check the album credits to make sure it's not Martin Barre on guitar. Just goes to show how Tull probably never was a band in the true sense of the word.

Since the songs on Homo Erraticus cover Tull's stylistic heritage roughly between Minstrel and Catfish, I can't but judge the album on Tull criteria. Taken that way, this is a competent, solid album, a worthy continuation to the official Tull legacy. At the same time, though, I do feel a bit "...and then?" Maybe I was secretly hoping Mr. A would show new sides to him this time, since there is nothing to lose at this stage of an amazing career. But then again, why not let the perfect English gentleman do what he likes and can do best? Even if Homo Erraticus does not dazzle with originality and surprise, at least it comes with a human voice and sense of life well lived. In times like these, one should be grateful.

Dazed #4: 10cc's The Original Soundtrack, Lalle Larsson, The "My Wizard" show

Played The Original Soundtrack by 10cc after a fairly long break. What a marvel; if someone came up with stuff like that today they would be instantly celebrated in the prog community. It wasn't considered prog way back in 1975 but it most likely would be today: long tracks, unusual arrangements, compositions that go this way and that way... The music has a very visual quality all the way through - and isn't that also the theme of album? - which makes it so dear to me :)




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Made an excellent new discovery, thanks to the Prog On facebook group where people share loads of prog videos and streming music - I hadn't realized there is this much prog rock on this planet! So someone shared a track by Lalle Larsson, whose name rang no bells with me. Turned out he's the keyboard guy in Karmakanic, an excellent Swedish band like I a lot (better than the Flower Kings, actually).

Yesterday I checked out two of Lalle's album on Spotify, and they are simply fabulous: poetic, almost translucent at places; romantic in a very Nordic sense, sometimes reminding me of the late Pekka Pohjola - coming from me, this is a *huge* compliment. I definitely will aquaint myself with Lalle's entire catalogue, being pretty sure there are plenty of gems to be found...



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In case you're interested in hearing some of the prog legends talking about the genre and sharing their experiences as pioneering prog musicians, do check out the BBC Radio 4's "My Wizard", a 30-minute special on progressive rock, featuring Ian Anderson, Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman etc. Always a pleasure to listen to these British gentlemen :)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0076xpc

Dazed #3: The Aaron Clift Experiment

Lonely Hills by The Aaron Clift Experiment was one of the most pleasant surprises of 2012. It's an album I've been returning to every now and then, hoping there would be more some day (judging by their web site there will be).

As befitting a band from Austin, Texas, there's a very rootsy feeling to the music, quite a few steps removed from the epic and experimental qualities of British and European prog. I'd actually describe them as prog-ish, with a tight rhythm section, sharp guitar work and influences from from 70's classic and hard rock bands such as Kansas, Zep and Floyd. They do have a sound and style pretty much their own, though, they're definitely not imitating anyone.

At the time when I discovered their first album I was listening to a lot of more complex stuff and also metal, and this felt like a nice change of pace, a breath of fresh air, really. Looking forward to their new stuff!