Quantum Pig guide us through new album Songs Of Industry And Sunshine

London based proc rock duo Quantum Pig will release their debut album, Songs Of Industry And Sunshine, through White Star Records this Friday.

The duo of Ian Faragher and Mark Stevenson were joined in the studio by Steven WIlson drummer Craig Blundell.

"A while ago I was asked to play drums on an album by a new band, beautifully called Quantum Pig, the brainchild of musicians Ian Faragher and Mark Stevenson," Blundell told Prog. "I heard a track off the album and really liked it so two dates were fixed to track drums. The session was such a joy and it was a real pleasure to play some beautifully written songs with some of my own progressive music influences. Having heard the final album I’m thoroughly delighted I said yes."

Here Faragher and Stevenson guide us through the eight tracks on Songs Of Industry And Sunshine.

Statement Of Intent
“Our engine should be the whole of the sky...”
As the first song Ian and Mark wrote together Statement Of Intent set the tone for what was to come – it’s unashamedly prog and undoubtedly rock. An impassioned rallying call for the power from the Sun to underpin humanity’s next transition, it rails against the forces that wish to ‘keep the status quo the state of the art’.

Long Letter Home
"Such dirty gravity is all in the mind..”
The album’s centrepiece, Long Letter Home is a twelve minute, three-part love-letter to prog that tells the story of human exploration from the first mariners, via Yuri Gagarin (the “first shot in the war to kill the atlas”), to our descendents' future journeys into the galaxy –and how they might look back on our current age and marvel at how stuck we seemed.

Keep The Nation Warm
"Travel, they say, is fatal to prejudice. But if you stick us in a box then what you get is this.”
An old mining town, the memory of the past, the deprivations of the present and the promise of the future. From brass-band pastoralism through rock via a ferocious guest guitar solo from John Mitchell this is seven minutes of nostalgia, rage and hope in equal measure.

Things
“Well the tail can wag the dog a while but the dog will have his day.”
Philip K. Dick once said,“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.” This is Quantum Pig’s version of that sentiment –and the nearest thing to straight ahead pop on the album, a sing-a-long protest song.

Citizen and State
"The nation state, a job, the ticking of those clocks...”
Quantum Pig’s first single is a 3-minute slice of post-punk pop-noise prog-polemic about apathy, democracy and choice. Strap yourself in.

The Shadows We Miss
“The signal’s weak but it’s getting through...”
Taking inspiration from author Richard Bach and philosopher Daniel Dennett, The Pig argue that optimism for our future is a moral position, and the confidence to act on that belief essential for our survival. Floydian moods provide the musical setting for finding hope against a backdrop of easy cynicism –and the rewards for doing so.

Dirty Old Engine
“We all know the words....”
A single piano plays a requiem for the Industrial Revolution.

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.