Trustworks, the new album from The Syn, is magnificent. It’s a very easy listen, but it hits all the right prog/rock pleasure points. It’s so smooth, you could even use it as “starter prog” to get friends and loved ones hooked on the good stuff. It’s very soothing, but yet full of subtle musical skills.

I do like some tracks better than others. These are the ones that I think are absolutely fantastic: “Something That I Said” (5:10), “Lucifer Hesitating” (5:23), “The Wheel” (4:16), and the pull-out-all-the stops ultra-proggy closer, “Seventh Day of Seven” (14:50). Steve Nardelli‘s relaxed-dude vocal style works best on these four songs, and they are all super cool musical outings. I can’t get enough of listening to these tracks, whereas I frequently skip the others (especially the snoozily didactic title track).

Nardelli recorded Trustworks with co-producer Jonas Reingold and Swedish prog-rock band Moon Safari: i.e., Pontus Åkesson – guitars; Simon Åkesson – keyboards; Johan Westerlund – bass; Petter Sandström – vocals, acoustic guitar; and (now former Moon Safari member) Tobias Lundgren – drums.

There’s no school like old school. Do yourself a favor and get this album. It’s worth the price of admission simply for “Seventh Day of Seven” alone. But everything else is a bonus, and everybody will find a fave bonus track to dig. For me, that would be “The Wheel” — which is so groovy, I think that word may just need to make a comeback in order to allow us to properly describe this song.

Rock on, dudes!