The Bardic Depths, What We Really Like in Stories (2024)

On By Pete BlumIn progressive rockLeave a comment

“The third time’s the charm.”

Is it?

Strangeness and charm? “A drug for angels?”

Yes, charm, but only a bit of strangeness; I’ll get to that.  To charm means “to delight” or “to enchant.”  When we say “the third time’s the charm,” does this imply that the first and second times were lacking?  Often, perhaps, but not this time.  If you’ll indulge me for a moment, allowing that every time so far has been “the charm,” then harken, friends…

The third album from The Bardic Depths, What We Really Like in Stories (release date March 7th, 2024) is a charm that brings a most welcome enchantment to what many of us are experiencing as dark times.  With fewer “guests” than before, the chemistry between the four band members (Dave Bandana, Gareth Cole, Peter Jones, and Tim Gehrt) and their lyricist (Bradley Birzer) is even more palpable here than it was on Promises of Hope. Every one of the four group members shines here, but not by trying to outdo what they have done before.  Rather, they shine (no surprise) by passionately devoting their artistry to bringing life and breath to Birzer’s concept, which is a set of songs paying tribute to several great storytellers (Tolkien and Lewis, Ray Bradbury, Alan Moore, Willa Cather, Robert E. Howard, and Walter M. Miller).

And here is the strangeness:  Unlike the first two TBD albums, despite the title’s direct reference to stories, there really are no stories here!  No overall story arc, and nothing will strike the listener as a narrative in any of the songs!  Well, not directly, anyway. Of course there are references to stories, hints of narratives we know, allusions to what the featured authors have written. But the point this time is not to tell or embody the stories. Rather than being story or stories, the album is about storytellers. So as my students have been saying in recent years, it’s “meta.” The point is to focus on the storytellers, to bring their lives to our awareness, to sing a trajectory for each, that so many of us have already followed before. This song cycle often beautifully evokes a sort of atmosphere that pervades a work or works of an author, and that readers will find at least somewhat familiar.  It is like being drawn into aural spaces that give honor to the authors by being a place where we can dwell with them (which is not to be confused with “being reminded” of them).

The phenomenon I have in mind is well understood by Rob Birnholz, who created an amazing video for the album’s first single, “You’ve Written Poetry, My Boy,” which is for Ray Bradbury.  Having read and enjoyed a great deal of Bradbury’s work over the years, I was already instantly taken with the song when I first heard it. Birnholz’s video, however, made the atmosphere of the song even more vivid and encompassing.

Another standout track for me, both lyrically and musically, is “Vendetta” (for Alan Moore). It especially caught my attention because I have lately returned to reading the work of French sociologist and theologian Jacques Ellul (1912-1994). Ellul is famous for his work on technology in modern societies. But in his original French, he actually emphasizes the broader concept of “la technique,” which is not the same as what English readers would think of as technology (and which is difficult to capture clearly in English translation). Technique is defined by Ellul as “the totality of methods rationally arrived at and having absolute efficiency (for a given stage of development) in every field of human activity” (The Technological Society, 1954). It names a system of rational means that increasingly dominates our lives in modern society, constituting a totalizing way of living where what is touted as freedom increasingly becomes a form of slavery. Technology, then, as Ellul understands it, is the discourse that accompanies the ubiquity of technique, which most often has the character of propaganda.

The disappointment and emptiness of “Vendetta” strikes me as precisely the disappointment and even despair that descends when it becomes clear that the promises of technology (in Ellul’s sense) are empty. What Ellul and Birzer have in common is that they find hope amid dystopian visions is Christian hope. But for Birzer, as was true for Promises of Hope, I think that it’s not a matter of pushing a particular theological agenda. It seems to me, rather, that what we can glimpse in What We Really Like in Stories is the possibility that stories, unlike technology and propaganda, might be a medium for hope.

I have singled out a couple of the songs, but on my third listen to the whole thing, I’m less inclined to name standouts and more inclined to rave about just how good this band is.  Every instrumentalist’s contribution seems to fall into place perfectly. The solos are just the right mixture of virtuosity and restraint. Both lead and harmony vocals are consistently lovely. (And I’m so glad that Rick Krueger’s awesome church organ makes an appearance!)  With Robin Armstrong’s production assistance on top of it all, the sound texture is, from beginning to end, irresistible! (See Kruekutt’s interview with TBD for the band’s perspective on how this all came about.)

What We Really Like in Stories at Bandcamp.

The Bardic Depths on Facebook.

Live at Last – Big Big Train Rock The USA (Sweetwater, 3/1/24)

On By Bryan MoreyIn Big Big Train, progressive rock2 Comments

Big Big Train, Live at Sweetwater, Fort Wayne, IN, March 1, 2024
Band: Alberto Bravin (lead vocals, keyboards, guitar), Nick D’Virgilio (drums, vocals), Oskar Holldorff (keyboards, backing vocals), Clare Lindley (violin, vocals, keyboards, guitar), Rikard Sjöblom (guitars, keyboards, vocals) and Gregory Spawton (bass, bass pedals, acoustic guitar/12-string), and Cade Gotthardt (trumpet, keyboards)
Setlist: Folklore, The Connection Plan, The First Rebreather, The Florentine, Summoned By Bells, Mead Hall in Winter, Telling the Bees, East Coast Racer, A Boy in Darkness, Love is the Light, Apollo
Encore: Victorian Brickwork

I didn’t think I would ever see the day, but there I was Friday evening sitting sixth row center at Big Big Train’s first ever live show in America. It’s been a long time coming – 11 years for me. I discovered Big Big Train back in 2013 while in college in Hillsdale, MI, less than an hour and a half from Sweetwater in Fort Wayne, Indiana. But for this show I drove 5 hours from Bowling Green, Kentucky, where I just moved from Saint Louis, MO last Monday. A wild week, to be sure, but I wasn’t about to miss this show.

After a moderately expensive visit to Hyde Brothers books in Fort Wayne (a must visit for fans of used books), I made it to a local restaurant for a dinner meetup with folks from the Big Big Train Facebook group. Friend and fellow Progarchy editor Rick Krueger kindly invited me (as I’m not on bookface), and he even bought me dinner. Thanks Rick! After that, the group emigrated to the Sweetwater campus, a beautiful building with an intimate auditorium that seats around 260 people. At that size, there probably isn’t a bad seat in the place.

The show was general admission, but I found a fantastic seat about two seats left of center in the sixth row. My only complaint with my choice was Rikard ended up blocking my view of Greg most of the show, but Greg made his presence clearly known on the low end. Sonically speaking, it was a fantastic seat. Overall this may have been the best sounding rock concert I’ve attended. The volume was perfect, and distortion was minimal. At times some of the keyboards were a little low in the mix (not Oskar’s, but the keyboards Alberto periodically played). Other than that, it sounded great – a testament to Rob Aubrey’s important role in this band. I don’t remember the last show where I didn’t have to wear ear plugs.

The show got off to a rousing start with a more accessible number in “Folklore,” which was followed up by a more recent accessible track with “The Connection Plan” off 2022’s “Welcome to the Planet.” The prog came into the station with “The First Rebreather,” a welcome throwback to 2012’s “English Electric: Part One.” The energetic pieces were a great warmup to the slower, more contemplative classic. I think First Rebreather may have been the first BBT song I ever heard, making it extra special to hear it live.

New lead vocalist Alberto Bravin was a fiery storm of energy from the opening notes of the show, running onto the stage and firing up the crowd from the get-go on “Folklore.” He continued this energy throughout the night, with a particularly fun trip through the aisles of the venue with Nick D’Virgilio as they sang a vocal duet on “The Florentine.”

The setlist was replete with long tracks, including “A Mead Hall in Winter,” “East Coast Racer” and encore “Victorian Brickwork.” The instrumental passages highlighted the talent of this band, particularly the tightness of stalwarts Greg Spawton, Nick D’Virgilio, and Rikard Sjöblom. Nick didn’t miss a beat all night, with his intricate drumming a joy to witness on the audience’s right side of the stage. Greg’s Rickenbacker boomed, but his bass pedals shook the building. Rikard really shined for me in this show. His guitar solos were excellent, along with his work on the Hammond organ. He was clearly having a blast, as he always seems to be on the band’s live Blu-Rays. Considering he was playing parts for two guitarists, it was all the more impressive. Alberto picked up an electric (and acoustic) guitar at points, but Rikard took the lion’s share of the work, and he performed flawlessly.

Nick and Rikard had a touching tribute to David Longdon with their acoustic version of “Telling the Bees,” with Nick on lead vocals, demonstrating how versatile everyone in this band is. The duet gave the rest of the band a chance for a quick bathroom break before returning to steam their way through “East Coast Racer.” The highlight of the track had to be Alberto’s astonishing “She flies.” He carried the note far longer than I expected, and it was a very moving moment. Also moving was “A Boy in Darkness,” an unexpected choice from English Electric. Overall those albums were well represented at this show.

They only played one song from the new album – “Love is the Light” – but they really shined with it. It was great hearing Alberto sing at his most natural, and the song tastefully blends accessible lyrics with subtle complexity in the music. Alberto was truly in his element on this track, showing what a natural performer he is. Even if his interactions with the audience between songs were a little awkward (due to the slight language barrier, I think), once the music is playing, all of that falls away and he shines.

“Apollo” was a treat as an instrumental, and when Alberto wasn’t playing something, he was running around the auditorium with a tambourine (which I overheard someone in line say they saw him buy in the Sweetwater store earlier that day) stirring up the enraptured audience.

Instead of leaving the stage and coming back out for an encore, the band merely asked if we wanted a final song. They asked us what we thought they’d play, and people shouted out some requests. “The Underfall Yard” was heard clearly, and one enthusiastic fan wanted deep cut “The Wide Open Sea.” Neither request was granted, the band giving us “Victorian Brickwork” instead. I don’t think anyone complained about that choice. A fine way to end the show.

As the band’s first show of the tour, there were a couple expected hiccups. They weren’t playing at full strength, and thus everyone had to contribute in multiple ways. I only picked up on two noticeable mistakes, and I’m not even going to bother identifying them here because everyone was so professional and carried on so well that it isn’t worth pointing it out. For music this complicated, you’d be justified in expecting more mistakes, but instead they played incredibly well. I told Oskar when I met him after the show that he played really well, and he had big shoes to fill playing Danny Manners’ parts. He pointed out that he was essentially playing the parts of three people since the live band is normally much larger! So yeah, they played great.

As they’ve done at past shows, the band made themselves available to the fans out in the lobby after the show. After my long wait at the merch desk to pick up the new album on CD/BR as well as the reissue of David Longdon’s Wild River on CD, I was able to wait in shorter lines to meet and get photos with several of the band members. I was especially excited to meet Greg. His art and his support are a huge reason behind Progarchy’s existence, and his music and lyrics have been a major intellectual and artistic influence for me for over a decade now. It was an honor to meet him, as well as the other members of the band. It’s so cool that they are willing to meet people after the show. I’m sure it’s tedious for them, but it’s cool for us as fans. They were all so kind.

Me and Greg
Me and Alberto

I’d say Big Big Train’s first show in the US was a rousing success. Hopefully this short tour will be enough of a financial success for the band to warrant them coming back to America in the future – hopefully on a longer tour. I know I’d go see them again in a heartbeat.

In Concert: Big Big Train Build “A Mead Hall in America”

On By kruekuttIn Big Big Train, progressive rock3 Comments

Big Big Train, Sweetwater Performance Theatre, Fort Wayne, Indiana – March 1, 2024

Four years ago this month, Big Big Train’s first North American tour was cancelled, a victim of the worldwide COVID pandemic. Just over 28 months ago, a more ambitious debut tour fell apart before it could even be announced, following the shocking death of BBT singer/songwriter/frontman David Longdon. Finally – finally! – last Friday night, nearly 250 fans (including me, my wife and fellow Progarchist Bryan Morey) packed a state of the art auditorium at the largest music retailer on the planet.

We waited as the announced start time ticked past. And waited some more. Really, how much suspense can BBT’s loyal Passengers – some fortified with sprouts, it’s true, but still – stand?

But all last-minute anxieties fell away as the international septet filed onstage, counted in and exploded into the opener “Folklore”. The audience launched into the singalong chants from the first – “Hey ho, so we go/We pass it on, we hand it down”, indeed – as new frontman Alberto Bravin ramped up into a kinetic dynamo, belting out the melody, prowling the length of the stage, stoking it all to a higher pitch. Meanwhile, the rest of the band dug into the song’s earthy folk-rock rhythm, constantly catching each other’s glances and grinning, as if to say, “can you believe we actually, finally get to do this?”

Rather than focus on their released-that-day effort The Likes of Us, Big Big Train generously gave us Statesiders what we’ve been wanting all these years — a bountiful cross-section of their back catalog from 2009’s game-changing The Underfall Yard through 2021’s Welcome to the Planet. And if the musical balance tipped ever so slightly toward the peak Anglophilia of the English Electric era, with “The First Rebreather” and “Summoned By Bells” as the set’s early landmarks, no one in the crowd seemed to be complaining.

At the back of the stage, keyboardist Oskar Holldorff and bassist/founder Gregory Spawton anchored the music, with Wakemanesque grand piano, sinewy Rickenbacker lines and booming bass pedals laying down track for free passage. To their right, freshly recruited trumpeter Cade Gotthardt covered BBT’s trademark brass parts, sometimes pivoting toward fusion-era Miles Davis fanfares and colors to fresh effect. Up front, Clare Lindley specialized in rippling, quicksilver violin licks; Rikard Sjöblom tackled his own fluid guitar parts plus absent guitarist David Foster’s riffs plus chunky, fiery organ work; and Nick D’Virgilio moved effortlessly from one off-center rhythm to the next, hands and feet awhirl with the rhythmic possibilities. Meanwhile, everyone but Spawton and Gotthardt contributed backing vocals; Bravin, Gotthardt and Lindley added orchestral keyboard pads as needed; and a 12-string guitar purchased at Sweetwater during rehearsals passed between Bravin, D’Virgilio, Lindley, Sjöblom and Spawton as if they’d gathered round a campfire. The cumulative effect kept the audience on the edge of their seats, giddy with the pace and eager for the next inevitable surprise.

Mirroring the onstage swirl of genre, color and texture, the band’s presentation never remained static. D’Virgilio joined Bravin front and center for their vocal duet on Grand Tour’s “The Florentine”, venturing into the audience for a second verse walkabout; on Grimspound’s “A Mead Hall in Winter” (the current tour’s namesake) Spawton stepped forward and gathered the mobile players for an accelerating jam that careened through metallic stops and starts. Out of that whirlwind came the gentlest moment of the night: D’Virgilio and Sjöblom’s tribute to Longdon. Their acoustic take on his “Telling the Bees” was utterly poignant – grief refracted through joy and gratitude, the audience eagerly picking up the chorus, everyone calling to memory the artistic gifts that their absent friend had shared so generously.

Then, the pealing piano chords that herald “East Coast Racer” — and suddenly any opening night jitters fell away from the band, any onstage fluffs no longer mattered. Big Big Train locked in with each other, ramping up the intensity; Bravin roared, purred and declaimed the narrative; the crowd entered the drama inherent in Spawton’s defining epic – more than the story of a train setting a land speed record, a evocation of the sweat and effort of the men behind the breakthrough. And as the audience joined in Bravin’s climactic cry – “And into history/And into legend/She flies” – the night came together in a sublime thrill of tension, release and catharsis.

From that point, an excellent show turned consistently great, as BBT sprinted for the finish line — Longdon’s grim chronicle “A Boy in Darkness”, Bravin’s delicate new ballad “Love Is the Light” and D’Virgilio’s exuberant instrumental “Apollo” chilled the blood, then plucked the heartstrings, then pumped up the adrenaline. Then, after a teasing Bravin invited the crowd to guess the encore, came “Victorian Brickwork” from The Underfall Yard. As Spawton’s doleful tale of familial regret and remorse unwound and the mist of intricate cross-rhythms cleared, Gotthardt launched into that elegiac trumpet coda — and grown men (including me) cried freely and with abandon.

What more is there to say about such an exciting, moving, thoroughly satisfying night? Big Big Train repaid their US audience’s longstanding devotion with interest, and the overwhelming atmosphere of happiness carried over to a relaxed after-show meet and greet. My advice: catch them in Boston (March 5) or Buffalo (March 6) if you can – and hope this mini-tour has sold well enough so that they can mount a return trip before their visas expire!


— Rick Krueger

Setlist:

  • Folklore
  • The Connection Plan
  • The First Rebreather
  • The Florentine
  • Summoned by Bells
  • A Mead Hall in Winter
  • Telling the Bees
  • East Coast Racer
  • A Boy in Darkness
  • Love Is the Light
  • Apollo
  • Victorian Brickwork

The Best Prog Bands You’ve Never Heard Of (Part Thirty-Seven): Sindelfingen

On By Connor MullinIn progressive rock2 Comments

When it comes to obscure prog bands, these guys might just take first prize. Fifty years ago, four British chaps known collectively as Sindelfingen released their only complete studio album, the delightfully named Odgipig – but only 100 copies were made available. Thanks to the Internet, however, we now have regular access to a particularly rare gem such as this one.

Odgipig, although somewhat inconsistent in places, is a solid and even rather original debut. Unlike many of their prog contemporaries, Sindelfingen forwent the typical keyboard setup and opted instead for a glockenspiel (played superbly by Roger Woods), which lends the album a unique and pastoral sound a la Jethro Tull’s Songs from the Wood. This sound is shaped also by the presence of acoustic guitars and recorder (both played with finesse by Mark Letley), especially on “Today and Tomorrow” and “Perpetual Motion,” the former being, in my humble opinion, the strongest track on the album. Lead singer Richard Manktelow (who also plays guitar) and drummer Roger Thorn are no slouches themselves, however, in their respective roles. Manktelow’s vocals are easy on the ears and Thorn anchors a dependable rhythm section with Letley (who also plays bass; he’s the type of musician who might have been recruited by Gentle Giant).

Sindelfingen enjoyed a brief foray into the prog world before fading into obscurity, but we today can appreciate the little gem they left behind for us. Below is the original album along with some bonus tracks that are also worth a listen.

Rick’s Quick Takes for February ( Levels, Likes, Loves, Leads – and Nightwhales?)

On By kruekuttIn art rock, avant-garde, Big Big Train, Industrial, Insideout Music, Kscope, post punk, progressive metal, progressive rock, thrash metalLeave a comment

2024 is out of the gate hot — three of the albums below are already on my Year-End Favorites list, and there are no duds in this bunch! As usual, purchase links are embedded in the artist/title listing, with a partial or complete streaming preview below the review.

Anchor and Burden, Extinction Level: MoonJune Music mainman Leonardo Pavkovic has labelled this brutal beauty “uncompromising progressive avantgarde doom-jazz post-metal”. That pretty much covers it! Kicking off with opener “Fractured Self” and “Body Expansion”, touch guitarists Markus Reuter and Alexander Dowerk spend the next hour launching knife-edged slabs of sonic concrete into sub-orbit; drummer Asaf Sirkis pulverizes any semblance of a steady beat into terrifying quick marches (“Mutual Assured Destruction”), hyperactive polyrhythms (“Nine Gates to Dominion”), or just lethal, unanticipated deadfalls; and electronics wizard Bernhard Wöstheinrich provides both breathing space for a comedown, as on the closing “The Crust of This Earth”, and crash pads for droning, sludgy guitar plunges throughout the extended title track. Absolutely bonkers, already a favorite; you may have to be in the right mood for it, but Extinction Level’s free-for-all improv (not far removed from King Crimson’s outer limits) turns out to be a heady, head-banging good time.

The Bardic Depths, What We Really Like in Stories (released March 7): both more direct and more varied than their previous releases, TBD’s third is a first-class album that delivers generously on its title’s promises. Brad Birzer’s graceful lyrics effortlessly transport us into the minds of creators as diverse as Ray Bradbury (“You’ve Written Poetry, My Boy”), Willa Cather (“Old Delights”) and Robert E. Howard (“The Feast Is Over”) — then into the creations themselves (the Orwellian dystopia of “Vendetta”, the postapocalyptic “Stillpoint”, the high adventure of “Whispers in Space”). In turn, Dave Bandana and Gareth Cole’s compositions are appealingly streamlined, giving Cole’s guitars, Bandana’s guitars & synths and Peter Jones’ keys & saxophones plenty of room to shine but never straying into aimless jams. Add a warm vocal blend from the quartet (with Jones and Bandana at the forefront) to Tim Gehrt’s steady, sparkling grooves, and you have a prog album that’s accessible without compromise, thought-provoking without pretension. This one’s charms might sneak up on you, but repeated listens will thoroughly repay your kind attention. (Check out our Bardic Depths roundtable here.)

Big Big Train, The Likes of Us (released March 1): the wonder here isn’t that indefatigable founder Greg Spawton and his international crew have regrouped with such power and panache; it’s that they’ve tackled the struggles and sorrows of recent years head-on, forging them into the band’s most direct, integrated album since Grimspound. From mission statement/overture “Light Left in the Day” through epics “Between the Masts” and “Miramare” to killer ballad “Love’s Light” and finale “Last Eleven”, new singer Alberto Bravin fares forward into the unknown, summoning the essence of friendship and the pain of loss, calling on all in earshot to seize the day. There’s tons of musical variety, too, from the hard-rocking “Oblivion” to the playful “Skates On” and the 12-string weave of “Bookmarks”, with all seven players (five of whom sing) each getting their time to shine. And yes, that brass section pops in at just the right moments, to bring a tear to the eye or lift the spirit as required. Familiar yet fresh, and destined for that year-end faves list, BBT fans can be well satisfied with this latest excursion – and The Likes of Us is well turned out to welcome new Passengers onboard as well! (Check out our interview with Alberto Bravin here.)

Steve Hackett, The Circus and the Nightwhale: Prepare to have your ears pinned back here: Hackett leaps out of the gate with freshly energized songwriting and ferocious guitar work and doesn’t let up throughout this compact, compellingly listenable concept album. The restless opening sprint of “People of the Smoke”, the “Squonk”-like stomp of “Taking You Down” (with standout lead vocal by Nad Sylvan and towering sax from Rob Townsend), the lush orchestral interlude “These Passing Clouds” are all full to bursting with devastatingly melodic, wildly spraying six-string excursions from Steve; even lighter tracks like the harmonious “Enter the Ring” and luxuriant 12-string centerpiece “Ghost Moon and Living Love” overflow with prime solo licks, mind-melting and heart-gripping in equal measure. Add Roger King’s richly scenic keyboards to a succession of marvelously eclectic tunes that waste no time and a coming-of-age narrative that climbs from the gutter to the stars (braced with a dose of the marvelous — there’s that Nightwhale, after all). And voila! You’ve got a Hackett opus that immediately goes to the 2024 favorites list, ranking right up there with Spectral Mornings, At the Edge of Light or whichever of his 30 solo efforts you prefer best.

No-Man, Housekeeping – The OLI Years, 1990-1994: Ben Coleman, Tim Bowness and Steven Wilson’s earliest singles for One Little Indian (oops, Independent), “Days in the Trees” and Donovan’s “Colours”, are the perfect sneak peek/summation of this compilation’s garishly romantic delights. Just as you start thinking “ho hum, fey indie Nineties dance-pop”, the heavens – or are they the abysses? – open, accompanied by lush squalls of immaculately recorded dissonance. As if Roxy Music and ABC had somehow wound up co-headlining a vaudeville show, Bowness’ desperate vocals and Coleman’s slashing violin work match up swoon for swoon, while Wilson toughens the grooves and hoists ambitious synthesized backdrops, colorful splatters of guitar punctuating the aching pantomimes all the while. Containing the first two No-Man albums (the singles-oriented Loveblows and Lovecries and the ravishing, guest-heavy Flowermouth) plus the early EP Lovesighs, a singles disc and radio sessions, Housekeeping is a generously filled, beautifully designed boxset that points unerringly toward Bowness and Wilson’s more mature achievements (whether together or apart), but is also thoroughly listenable and intriguing in its own right.

The Pineapple Thief, It Leads to This: more badass guitar loops and riffs (spaghetti westerns and surf music entwined in a Steve Reich soundscape); more bleak musings on our pervasive inability to connect, crooned with Bruce Soord’s trademark tenderness and fury; more moments of tasty, laterally-inflected drumming from Gavin Harrison. The current edition of the Thief’s fourth studio album is its own self-contained world, set in motion by the Soord/Harrison team’s moody interplay and rotating on Jon Sykes and Steve Kitch’s steady axis; undeniably of a piece with their recent catalog, and all the better for it. If none of the eight songs particularly stand out, they’re all honed to sleek perfection, building through seductive, bracing miasmas of dread and determined pursuits of flickering light to the knockout punch of the last two tracks. Whatever nightmare Soord is sleepwalking through, his eyes and heart are wide open as he edges forward, with Sykes, Kitch and Harrison urging him on all the while. (Soord’s recent “unplugged” solo CD/DVD, the already out-of-print Caught in the Hum, is an even more distilled example of this melancholy, coolly yearning aesthetic.)

— Rick Krueger

A Bardic Depths Roundtable: The Progarchy Interview

On By kruekuttIn progressive rockLeave a comment

Yes, I have a backstory with The Bardic Depths: spoken word shouts on their 2020 debut album, then a special guest credit on keyboards for the 2022 follow-up Promises of Hope. And the fun continued when, early in 2023, project originator Dave Bandana asked me to whip up another snippet of pipe organ for the third TBD opus!

Out on March 7th, the new album What We Really Like in Stories features the quartet at the core of The Bardic Depths: Dave B. on vocals, keys and guitars; Gareth Cole (Fractal Mirror, Paul Menel) on guitars and vocals; Peter Jones (Tiger Moth Tales, Red Bazar, Camel, Cyan, multiple et ceteras) on keys, sax and vocals, and drummer Tim Gehrt (best known from Steve Walsh’s Streets) on drums and vocals. Inspired by and setting the lyrics and literary reflections of founding Progarchist Brad Birzer, the seven new songs (plus a prelude or two) focus on the creations of authors spanning science fiction (C.S. Lewis, Alan Moore, Walter Miller Jr.), fantasy (J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard) and American realism (Willa Cather). The group’s leanest and lushest effort to date, the music here is equally ambitious and appealing, progressive and accessible, warmly melodic and mightily stirring.

After talking with Dave two years ago, I couldn’t help but think it would be a blast to get all the members of TBD in on the same Zoom call to talk about the new album. It was a blast, but little did I know what I was getting into, as the byplay between the merry quartet crossed the Internet at lightning speed. Enjoy the interview below; a complete transcription immediately follows the jump.

Continue reading “A Bardic Depths Roundtable: The Progarchy Interview” →

Big Big Train’s Alberto Bravin: The Progarchy Interview

On By kruekuttIn Big Big Train, Insideout Music, progressive rockLeave a comment

March 1st will see multiple firsts for Progarchy faves Big Big Train: the release of their impressive major label debut on Inside Out/Sony, The Likes of Us, and the sold-out opening night of their long-delayed US tour at Fort Wayne, Indiana’s Sweetwater Performance Theater. Alongside founder/bassist Greg Spawton and the rest of BBT’s international lineup, lead singer/multi-instrumentalist Alberto Bravin will spend the first half of the month barnstorming from Indiana to New Jersey, Boston and Buffalo, winding up onboard progressive rock’s annual floating festival, Cruise To The Edge.

While this will be Alberto’s first stateside jaunt with the band, he’s definitely paid his dues with BBT; since joining up, he’s toured Europe with them in 2022 and 2023, as well as collaboratively writing and recording The Likes of Us at his homebase of Trieste, Italy. When I spoke with him earlier this month, Alberto was candid about the challenges involved integrating into Big Big Train following previous singer David Longdon’s passing, but also grateful for his reception by the band (and its devoted fans, the Passengers) and unquenchably enthusiastic about the new album and the coming tour! Our video conversation is immediately below, with a transcript following.

So my first question is kind of a softball: what does it feel like to be the lead singer in Big Big Train?

It’s a great situation, musically and also personally, from a human point of view.  Because it’s a great band with great people in it!  It’s a really, really, really great honor to be the lead singer and be part of this family, actually.  It’s two years [since] I joined the band, and I can call it family, because there are really great relationships inside the band and between us.  So, this is great!

That’s lovely to hear; I’m so pleased.  Going back those two years, when Greg Spawton and the band’s management reached out to you, what was your first reaction?

Well, I didn’t expect that, actually; it was completely out of the blue!  Greg saw me with PFM in 2015 and he just wrote down my name at the time.  Then I was in a list of people to audition.  He wrote me an email and he asked me if I was aware of the band – and of course, I was aware of the band [laughs]; I was a fan!  I knew what happened and everything. 

And it was just a great honor to do the audition, and I didn’t have big expectation from that.  It was just, “Alright, let’s try; let’s have the opportunity; let’s sing as best as I can.  Let’s have fun, actually, and enjoy the situation.”  I didn’t expect to become the singer, [laughs] actually!

Backtracking, how did you first hear of Big Big Train, that you became a fan?

I remember I was in Japan with PFM; I was in the Tower Records in Tokyo.  And there was a Japanese newspaper with a photo of PFM, because we were playing there.  So, I just got the newspaper, and inside there was a photo of, I think it was Grimspound; that was the album.  And just the cover — I said, “Whoa, this is a cool cover – I need to dig deeper on this band!”  And I fell in love with it.

The main reason is that Big Big Train always had great songs, I think.  They are in the progressive world, where you have all the instrumental madness or weird time signatures or whatever, but the basic thing of the band are the songs.  They have great melodies; they always had great songs and great lyrics.   So that was the first thing that I really fell in love with.  I’m a Beatles fan, and I love songwriting.  And I could hear the songwriting behind these incredible arrangements, the vocal harmonies and all the keyboards and Mellotrons and 12-string guitars.  The great thing is that most of the songs, you can play them [with just] guitar and vocals, and they still sound like those songs.  That’s the magic there.

That makes a lot of sense, because it was the songs that grabbed me, a little further back before that time.  And I share your Beatles fandom!  So I get where you’re coming from with that.  Now you seem to have had – I read in the tour program, you’ve had a real variety of musical experience before this.  I understand you trained in opera, as well as in modern singing.  And you play multiple instruments; you’ve led your own band; you joined PFM, which definitely has a reputation in the prog world.  So, after those two years you’ve talked about — two tours and time in the studio with Big Big Train — what do you think are the particular strengths you bring that slot in with how you describe this band, this songwriters’ collective, and the music that comes out of it?

I think from day one, me and Greg  – there was chemistry, just human chemistry, and so we started right away.  When they were looking for a singer, they were looking just for a singer, actually.  They didn’t expect to have a songwriter or [laughs] a control freak like I am! [Laughs]  They needed a singer, but they had the whole package here!  And [laughs] now they have to deal with it!

From day one or after a week [that] I was into the band, I was asked if I was writing stuff, and I said, “Well, yeah, I also write songs and musical parts.”  We shared a couple of things, and I think Greg liked it.

We started to really dig into the music and worked together on the music, on the lyrics.  So, I just brought my – it’s not really a style; I mean I don’t have a style! [Laughs] It’s just the vibe or whatever.  But the important thing is that I was a fan of the band.  I know really well the Big Big Train sound, and I don’t want to change that, because it’s a wonderful mood and vibe and color that the band have.  So, I don’t want to change that, but just make it a little bit, maybe – new, my own!  Because I’m into the band and I’m into the songwriting of the band.

Let’s move on to that new album; I’ve been able to hear it a couple of times.  One of the things I’ve noticed; when I saw some interviews with Greg, he said, “This time, it’s personal.” It’s less about third-person storytelling and maybe more about first-person experiences and reflections.  If you’re comfortable, what sort of experiences have you brought from your life that have fed into these songs?

Big Big Train always talked about – not always, but most of the time, they talked about historic facts or legends or people.  This time, actually, it was totally natural; I think we realized that after we finished the album, “Oh, this time it’s really more personal!”  We didn’t think about it!  It wasn’t thought out; it was just a natural thing.

One example: I wrote the song called “Love Is The Light”.  That song is about a dark period that I had, dealing with depression.  So, to actually be able to talk about it and put it in music and those lyrics – it’s a really deep experience, and really helpful! 

We played it live on the last tour; I made the demo of the song, then we recorded it in the studio, and then we rehearsed it for the live situation.  But the first time there was an audience in front of me and we started the song, I just realized that I was playing and singing a really personal thing of my life!  So that just clicked, and I said, [laughs] “Oh, OK; let’s see how it goes!”  And it was an incredible feeling, incredible emotions.  And I think people really, really react on that.  If you feel it in a genuine way, and you know what you’re talking about, I think the audience can feel it too.  Then it’s pretty strong.

I can imagine, especially with the intensity that that band’s audience brings to hearing you guys live.

Oh, yeah; oh, my God!  I mean, the people that we have, it’s actually incredible!  We have people coming to see us in Europe from all over the world.  And they’re coming to the US from Europe to see the gigs!  We have people that came to all the 18 shows that we did last year.  It’s amazing; they are really the foundation of the band!   I mean, without them we can just play in our rooms! [Laughs]

Makes sense.  So, you mentioned “Love Is The Light.”  There are definitely some themes in the music and the lyrics that connect across the songs on The Likes of Us.  You have “Light Left In The Day”, which is kind of an overture.  And some of those themes really go all the way through to “Last Eleven”, which was the first new song that we heard with you singing the lead vocals.  How would you sum up the common threads on this album?

Glad you noticed [laughs] all the themes coming and going during the album!  At one time, we had a couple of songs there – we chose the setlist of the album.  And there was no reprises.  I think “Last Eleven” had the reprise that is on “Beneath The Masts” at the beginning.  At the beginning of “Beneath The Masts” there is a part that is the end section of “Last Eleven”, because it was Greg’s song and he doubled up this kind of thing.

Continue reading “Big Big Train’s Alberto Bravin: The Progarchy Interview” →

Rick’s Quick Takes for January (In the Bleak Midwinter)

On By kruekuttIn art rock, avant-garde, electronic, jazz, jazz rock, progressive metal, progressive rockLeave a comment

Note: Artist/title links go to purchase options; streaming previews follow reviews.

Mary Halvorson, Cloudward: Trailblazing guitarist Halvorson gathers the sextet from her 2022 classic Amaryllis around eight new avant-jazz compositions. Trumpeter Adam O’Farrill and trombonist Jacob Garchik sizzle on opener “The Gate”; Patricia Brennan’s vibraphone lends a rich shimmer to “The Tower”; Nick Dunston launches an epic bass solo to kick off the closing “Ultramarine”. And Tomas Fujiwara? He’s everything you could imagine in one drummer — meditatively punctuating “Unscrolling”, driving the riff-fest “Tailhead” and covering all points in-between. Set these folks loose on their leader’s sinewy, elegant concoctions of yearning and abstraction, and you never know what will happen next. All the while, Halvorson sets the pace on her instrument, with a woody, delay-laced sound and a skittering, percussive style all her own. Whether Halvorson’s and company are swinging like mad on “Collapsing Mouth” or coalescing like electrical static around Laurie Anderson’s guest violin on “Incarnadine”, Cloudward is another head-spinning, laugh-out-loud delight.

Neal Morse, The Restoration — Joseph, Part Two: The conclusion of Morse’s latest rock opera takes Part One’s rough and ready swagger and turns it up to 11, with grit even in the proggiest moments (Jacob’s sons’ vocal fugue a la Gentle Giant on “The Argument”) and fresh muscle propelling the Latin groove “Everlasting”. There’s heft to the lyrics too, as the showdown between a newly-powerful Joseph and his off-balance brothers displaces Neal’s usual conversion narrative. (Don’t worry, though; reconciliation and revival are just a title track away.) With tight melodic/thematic connections to The Dreamer and a beefy sound recalling George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass and Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen, The Restoration is also a spectacular vocal showcase; ensemble highlights include Ted Leonard’s emotive Judah and the Nick D’Virgilio/Ross Jennings cameos as Pharaoh’s butler and baker, and Morse puts his newly darkened tone to thrilling use at dramatic highpoints like “I Hate My Brothers”. Together, the Joseph albums are easily my favorite Morse-related releases since The Similitude of a Dream and The Great Adventure, and The Restoration goes straight to my Official Faves List for the new year.

PAKT, No Steps Left to Trace: Another year, another heaping helping of cutting-edge free improvisation from MoonJune Records, courtesy of indefatigable impresario Leonardo Pavkovic! Now in their third year as a collective, bassist Percy Jones, guitarist Alex Skolnick, drummer Kenny Grohowski and guitarist/electronicist Tim Motzer unleash their first double album, created entirely from scratch both in the studio and live. It’s a genuinely explosive set, especially when Jones (best known from Phil Collins’ 1970s fusion band Brand X) ramps up the double-time grooves and his compatriots lock on! But the intensity doesn’t slacken when the music spaces out, either; listening hard and leaning into their deep, uncanny sense of interplay, PAKT also conjures some of the most arresting ambient jams I’ve come across recently. Bursting every genre boundary you can think of, No Steps Left to Trace isn’t for the musically faint of heart — but, for those with ears to hear, it’s a trip well worth taking.

Porcupine Tree, Closure/Continuation. Live Amsterdam 7/11/22: The show I saw in Chicago a couple of months before but bigger, scaled up for packed European arenas instead of partially-filled Stateside auditoriums and rush-released on video before Christmas. The sum of all the prog-metal parts here is flat-out engaging: Gavin Harrison’s percussive impossibilities and Richard Barbieri’s synth squelches ground Steven Wilson’s driven singing and sardonic patter, while utility players supreme Randy McStine and Nate Navarro slam the songs home. Newer material stacks up well against PT’s classics, with pensive slowburns “Dignity”, “Chimera’s Wreck” and “Buying New Soul” nicely offsetting thrashy frequency-eaters “Blackest Eyes”, “Herd Culling” and “Anesthetize”. A solid introduction for anyone who missed the Tree’s initial, spiky flowering, this one will probably resonate deeper with longtime fans (like me) who took Wilson’s long-term “never again” PR onslaught at face value – until we no longer had to.

The Smile, Wall of Eyes: Admit it: does Stanley Donwood’s latest album cover look like a psychedelic Lord of the Rings paperback cover from the 1960s or what? And the title track kick-off of this Radiohead-facing project is every bit as disorienting: a understated bossa nova from Tom Skinner to which a balefully depressive Thom Yorke lyric, tightly wound orchestral smears and Jonny Greenwood’s arhythmic guitar plinks attach themselves like disfiguring barnacles. No forthright kicks to the head in the style of A Light for Attracting Attention here; The Smile beckon us toward dystopia ever so gently — odd-time licks over the ominous vamp “Read the Room”, Greenwood and Skinner gouging a trench below Yorke’s mewling protests on “Under Our Pillows”; the Beatlesque ballad “Friend of a Friend” delicately dissolving the boundary between courage and despair in less than five minutes. In the face of lives ever more trapped onscreen, are the only options self-destruction (as “Bending Hectic’s” dissonant strings erupting into unmistakable Greenwood power chords) or resignation to Technopoly’s embrace (the closing “You Know Me!”)? Whatever our take, Yorke, Greenwood and Skinner once again prove brutally honest guides to the expanse of beauty and abyss of horrors lying before us. 

— Rick Krueger 

2023 In Review: kruekutt’s Final Favorites

On By kruekuttIn americana, classical, country, pop, progressive rock, Rock and Roll1 Comment

Well – that was a longer break than anticipated. (Sometimes, as John Lennon sang, “Life is what happens to you/While you’re busy making other plans.”) Thanks for your patience and ongoing support as we wave goodbye to 2023 and 2024 begins! 

Thanks as well to Time Lord and Bryan for their 2023 wrap-ups. The flow of excellent new and reissued music continued unabated in November and December; below are some further favorites (plus some I didn’t get around to before my last post), with listening links and “micro-quick takes” to match.

The Beatles, 1962-1966 & 1967-1970: The pioneering 1973 compilations get a cutting-edge makeover. The “Red” album expands by 12 tracks — more covers, more George vocals, more from Revolver — and everything’s finally remixed to breathtaking true stereo by Giles Martin. The “Blue” album broadens the picture of the Fab Four’s later years via 9 more tracks, with the archival swan song “Now and Then” (read Time Lord’s elegiac appreciation here) serving as a lovely, definitive coda. Fifty years on, a reminder of what all the shouting was about – and why Beatlemania has never really gone away.  

Kerensa Briggs, Requiem: The first new classical piece I’ve fallen in love with in a long time. Briggs is a young British choral composer with formidable gifts and a direct, appealing style; based in chant and ripened with echoes of the French romantics, her Requiem cuts straight to the heart of grief, consoling the listener’s spirit with its rich settings of Scriptural promises. The Choir of King’s College London, conducted by Joseph Fort, responds vibrantly on the major piece and other short works (including a setting of the Taoist text “Inner Light” that George Harrison nicked for a Beatles B-side). Restorative, uplifting and highly recommended.

Charley Crockett, Live from the Ryman Auditorium: A recent Nashville vacation (including a night at the Grand Ole Opry) triggered a deep dive into all things country — traditional, bluegrass, alternative, modern, you name it. Leaning on his Gothic concept album The Man from Waco, Texas troubadour Crockett and his band The Blue Drifters electrify a sold-out Mother Church of Country Music with this generous, rambunctious set. One of the most eclectic artists in the genre today, Crockett flavors his honky-tonk stew with everything from mariachi to Motown (check out “I’m Just A Clown”), from funk to deep blues, with props to Red Dirt forebears like James Hand and Townes Van Zandt along the way — and his thick, chewy baritone sells it all.  If you crave some down-home listening, you can’t go wrong here.

Peter Gabriel, i/o: Yeah, PG has been promising new music for twenty years — but, boy, has he delivered the goods! Released a track at a time every full moon, the finished album (available in three different mixes) is a hypnotic, seductive delight all the way. Whether on atmospheric opener “Panopticom”, melancholy meditations “Playing for Time” and “And Still”, or upscale worldbeat anthems “Road to Joy” and “Olive Tree”, killer hooks, arresting soundscapes and neoclassic soul melodies abound. It’s Gabriel as you remember him — including those lyrics that swing wildly between sappy motivational speeches and sage advice — freshly retooled and energized, blazing a hopeful, humanistic path thru this century’s chaos.

King Crimson, Larks’ Tongues in Aspic XL: Robert Fripp wasn’t kidding when he called the 1972-73 incarnation of Crimson a magic band. John Wetton on bass and Bill Bruford on drums bring the muscle; David Cross on violin and Jamie Muir on percussion add thrills in the moment. Arguably, the crunching Hendrix-meets-Stravinsky title tracks, menacing balladry of “Exiles” and improvised mojo of “The Talking Drum” set the template for the rest of KC’s career. This 2-CD/2-BluRay set includes a new spatial audio mix by (who else?) Steven Wilson, an “Elemental Mix” that spotlights individual contributions and the complete sessions for nerds like me who want to know how the sausage got made. Explosive, unstoppable stuff.

Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives, Altitude: Whether backing greats like Lester Flatt and Johnny Cash, riding his “hillbilly boogie” to a successful solo career, or charming Ken Burns’ documentary audiences, Stuart comes as close to the living personification of country music as anybody. Here he and his stellar backing band lay down some serious hoodoo: “Sitting Alone” fuses tight harmonies to a Byrdsy guitar jangle, the title track twangs with abandon, “Tomahawk” joyfully calls down the Second Coming in double time, and a hush descends for the haunting “And the Angels Came Down.” A fresh helping of Cosmic American Music as pioneered by The Grateful Dead and Gram Parsons: sleek, gutsy and deeply satisfying.

And in review, the list of my other favorite releases and reissues of the year, covered in previous Quick Takes (links are to my original articles):

Stay tuned, won’t you? With new albums due soon from Neal Morse, The Pineapple Thief, Steve Hackett, The Bardic Depths and Big Big Train (not to mention BBT’s first US tour this March), the Rockin’ Republic of Prog is ready for a banner year!

— Rick Krueger

Best Albums of 2023 — #10: Moon Safari, Himlabacken Vol. 2

On By Time LordIn progressive rock1 Comment

It’s been worth the wait. Moon Safari is back with the equivalent of a prog double album. It’s got a killer single with “Emma, Come On,” and it’s got a killer epic with “Teen Angel Meets the Apocalypse,” and it’s got everything in-between.

I’m not kidding. This album has everything but the kitchen sink, with all kinds of tiny details that show a true love for the craft. There’s a sax solo on “Forever, for You”, groovy time signature changes on “Between the Devil and Me”, an effective spattering of 80s synth drums on “Blood Moon”, and an hilarious soundalike Van Halen synth part on “198X”.

But if you want big, then three out of the nine tracks are over ten minutes long. You get more than you bargained for, making this the ultimate prog bargain of the year. It’s like a decade’s worth of music-making and music-enjoying all on one disc.

The album is endless joy and endless fun. Come on, Emma, and prog on with Moon Safari. What a great way to close the year. See you in 2024!