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Spock’s Beard’s new album will come as a huge relief to those who feared the silence since 2018’s Noise Floor wasn’t a good sign. Things have certainly changed in that time.
The band have a new label; they’re joined by new drummer Nick Potters, keyboardist Ryo Okumoto appears as the de-facto bandleader; and they’ve welcomed a new writing partner into the fold.
External songwriters aren’t a new phenomenon for the Beard. For The Archaeoptimist they connected with British musician Michael Whiteman, the driving force behind the excellent I Am The Manic Whale. He proves to have been an inspired choice, with shared music and lyric credits on almost every track.
The first minute or so of opener Invisible is enough to confirm that their musical identity remains intact. Leading off with a multi-voice a cappella, they blast in with syncopated figures and a brief synth solo – it’s hard-hitting stuff that twists and turns in unexpected yet engaging ways.
Electric Monk marries a similar directness with quirky unison figures and repeated gentle interludes. In one of many nods to past Beard, Afourthoughts contains playful musical quotations that link to earlier tracks Thoughts, Thoughts (Part 2) and Afterthoughts; complete with a tour-de-force Gentle Giant-esque vocal breakdown.
St Jerome In The Wilderness is possibly the most obvious Whiteman song on the album: the story of an unfinished Leonardo da Vinci work deliberately butchered and then reconstructed under the auspices of an art-loving cardinal – Art, history and serendipity colliding.
The title track is a 20-minute epic that tells the story of a father and daughter exploring a post-apocalyptic Earth. It ambitiously embraces gentle balladry, anthemic synth-led themes, 70s yacht rock, driving odd-time hard rock and solo spots galore.
Next Step boasts a piano intro that evokes early classics like The Doorway and a lyrical theme that seems to optimistically reference past and future, with such lines as: ‘Forging ahead from what came before/No one’s saying it was bad, but there’s better things in store.’ It also has a classic, joyous Beard denouement.
Whether on piano, synth, organ or Mellotron, Okumoto shines on pretty much every track here. The structures and arrangements are often complex and multilayered without ever becoming wilfully bewildering.
The work is grandiose and shrewdly measured, musically mischievous and lyrically intriguing. It does all feel rather special.
The Archaeoptimist is on sale now via Madfish.
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