The Neal Morse Band’s fifth studio album L.I.F.T. is nilled as a record that “stands toe to toe” with the group’s rated 2016 LP The Similitude Of A Dream. It’s another virtuosic concept album that continues the NMB’s tradition of spiritually-themed storytelling.
“There’s an arc to it, but I suppose it’s really about belonging,” Morse tells Prog of the follow-up to 2021’s Innocence & Danger. “You start out feeling like you belong with your parents, then you break from them and you might not feel like you really belong in the world. It talks about reaching for God or a higher power or however you want to put it, and God bringing us back to wholeness.”
Asked what the letters in the new album’s title stand for, Morse says it’s open to the listener’s interpretation. “We were looking for a name and one Saturday morning I just thought, what about ‘L.I.F.T.’ as an unexplained acronym?
“I like one-word album titles. ‘L.I.F.T.’ feels very positive, and we put the periods in there to make it more mysterious. I think it’s good to have a bit of mystery – especially when we’re talking about prog rock concept albums.”
He continues: “In a way this record is about my life. I was a pretty happy kid growing up in the San Fernando Valley sunlight, and I remember thinking, ‘Why would anybody be depressed when everything’s so great?’
“Of course, later on you find out why people get depressed. I even went through a whole ‘valley of death’ thing myself at one point.”
Morse, guitarist Eric Gillette, bassist Randy George and keyboardist Bill Hubauer are again joined by drummer extraordinaire Mike Portnoy. His involvement proved something of a relief, since they’d been concerned his return to Dream Theater in 2023 might present irreconcilable scheduling conflicts.
“Mike got back with Dream Theater and I started praying about what I should do during this period of time,” Morse recalls. “But that turned out to be making the Cosmic Cathedral LP [2025’s Deepwater] and Neal Morse And The Resonance LP [2024’s No Hill For A Climber], both of which I was really thankful for.
“We’d talked about doing something with Mike again when we got together to play [NMB albums] Testimony and Testimony 2 at Morsefest in the UK in 2024. Really sweetly, Mike said, ‘First availability I have, I want to keep working with you guys’.
“We were very touched, because the NMB world is infinitely smaller than the world of Dream Theater – you wouldn’t do the NMB for the money or the fame!”
L.I.F.T.’s epic, 71-minute journey was recorded last April when Portnoy was briefly free. Gillette and his wife were expecting a baby at the time; so, breaking with tradition, the band moved operations from Morse’s Nashville, Tennessee home studio to Gillette’s home studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That’s piano-led, vocal-harmony rich song Fully Alive proved crucial in unlocking the band’s creative flow.
“Inspiration-wise, everything I’ve ever loved from The Beatles to Tommy by The Who to Genesis to classical stuff is in there,” sums up the band leader.
One question remains: will they tour the new album – and if so, will Portnoy be on drums? “We’ll definitely tour it at some point,” says Morse. “It’s too good a record not to, and we’re working it out with Mike.”
L.I.F.T. is on sale now via Century Media.
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