Louder AAA
Welcome to Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week! This week we've got seven new and diverse slices of progressively inclined music for you to enjoy.
So former Haken keyboardist Diego Tejeida and his band Temic won out over Haken in last week's TOTW showdown, with Temic's live version of Paradigm romping home as winner. Haken's new single could only muster secind place, with Chantelle Smith and Richard Wileman in a very respectable third.
The premise is simple - we've collated a batch of new releases by bands falling under the progressive umbrella, and collated them together in one post for you - makes it so much easier than having to dip in and out of various individual posts, doesn't it? The idea is to watch the videos (or listen if it's a stream), enjoy (or not) and also to vote for your favourite in the voting form at the bottom of this post.
Couldn't be easier, could it? We'll be bringing you Tracks Of The Week, as the title implies, each week. Next week we'll update you with this week's winner and present a host of new prog music for you to enjoy.
If you're a band and you want to be featured in Prog's Tracks Of The Week, send your video (as a YouTube link) or track embed, band photo and biog to us here.
THE OCEAN - LIGHT POLLUTION
German heavy proggers The Ocean unveil a brand new line-up as they announce that they will release their next studio album, Solaris, through Pelagic Records on September 25. The album is based on late Soviet filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky’s masterpiece of the same name. The new album also features Tangerine Dream's Thorsten Quaeschning guesting on modular synthesisers. Epic, near-ten-minute new single, Light Pollution, hints at the diversity of the new album.
“We’ve witnessed several communication revolutions throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, but have we actually become any better at communicating?” comments mainman Robin Staps. “Has there really been forward movement, or has the motion been orbital — have we merely been treading water? Light pollution symbolises the transparency of the postmodern age, permeating everything and everyone. Everything is constantly visible; we’ve lost the darkness to hide in, and with the relentless glare of communication, we’ve also lost our privacy.”
GREEN CARNATION - LONELINESS UNTOLD, LONELINESS UNFOLD
Green Carnation bassist and primary lyricist Stein Roger Sordal steps up to the mic for the band's latest single, Loneliness Untold, Loneliness Unfold, a plaintive ballad taken from the band's A Dark Poem, Part II: Sanguis, released earlier this year and the second in their ambitious A Dark Poem trilogy of releases. Featuring just Sordal's vocals and a sombre guitar melody that unwinds like the slow passage of time, this is a spellbinding if starkly harrowing piece of music.
"Obviously, this song is about loneliness, but more specifically, it's about watching a very good and close friend gradually shut himself off from the rest of the world", Sordal says. "It's about sitting on the sidelines, watching it happen, and not being able to do anything about it."
EYRE LLEW - BLOOM
Appearing on Prog's radar for the first time, Nottingham band Eyre Llew have been described as "Britain's answer to Sigur Rós", which is some praise, and hopefully won't become an albatross around their collective necks. That said, there are certainly some similarities with the sweetly high-pitched, keening vocals and richly melodic ambient style of post-rock. They release their second album, Bloom, on September 18 and play a hometown show highlighting new. material from the album on the next night. Definitely ones to watch.
“It’s about the moment everything slowed down, and we chose something real — love, home, and growth — instead of just motion,” the band explain. “It’s the sound of things finally taking root.”
A PERFECT CIRCLE - STARLESS
US proggers A Perfect Circle celebrate the dawn of their European tour with the release of this brand new single, Starless. The tour kicks off with two dates at London's Brixton Academy, and the band will be performing the new track live
“Absolutely chuffed to debut this new track on stage in the UK,” says singer Maynard James Keenan. “Of course, I’m excited to release the recordings, but our songs always take on an expanded personality once we start playing them live.
“Some songs get kicked around and massaged for years,” adds guitarist and producer Billy Howerdel. “But once in a while, one takes shape quickly, as if it had been there all along.”
CANDACRAIG - SUMMERFOLK
UK folk prog duo Candacraig's new single, Summerfolk, is a beauty. It's the title track of an upcoming EP which will be released later this summer, and plays up the band's proggier sound with its brooding air, gradual build, and even an undercurrent of something darker, while Sharron Cannings delivers a dramatic vocal. "Summerfolk was written about the loss of a dear friend," she tells Prog.
You can catch the band at this year's Soundle Festival, which if course, takes place next weekend, June 5-7, at the Queen Victoria Hall in Oundle, along with the likes of Stuckfish, The Blackheart Orchestra, Haze, That Joe Payne, Spriggan Mist and loads more...
SANS FROID - PROS AND CONSTANTS
Bristol art rock quartet Sans Froid are gearing up for the release of their second album, Back To The Womb, through Church Road Records on June 26. For the video for the third and final single ahead of the album, Pros And Contants, you'll find them jumping up and down on a beach to their intricately knotty rhythms and crunchy guitar work. Which, we have to admit, looks like a hell of a lot of fun!
"Pros And Constants… Working really hard at stuff you’re shit at, but doing it because you got bills to pay and then being like, actually nahhhhh I’m bored af so I’m gonna start something else again, but what am I even good at though," the band explain. "Fuck knows to be honest! Lots of just like, focusing on the stuff you can’t do instead of being happy with / recognising the stuff you can do."
KOYO BLOOM - DISCIPLINE
KoyoBloom is the new iteration of Leeds alt.proggers Koyo, who release their new album Distance, their first album with the new name, imminently. New single Discipline is a breezy affair with summery vocals against an acoustic guitar and keyboard backdrop, which mixes psych and prog with definite Neil Young elements too. Back in the days when radio occasionally played good music, this is what might have been called a "sleeper hit".
“The main theme of Discipline is this idea of having your time stolen — not wanting to look back and feel like life was spent endlessly clearing notifications, always immediately accessible, always available. It’s about the discipline it takes to lead a happy life," the band say. "It’s also about the weightlessness of meeting someone who respects your space and presence — where you don’t feel possessed, just free. Reclaiming time, connection, and autonomy.”
