Written by Welcome to Prog‘s brand new Tracks Of The Week! We’ve got seven new and diverse slices of progressively inclined music for you to enjoy.
No disputing last week’s winner. Former Nightwish singer Tarja romped home with her ten-minute epic new single, At Sea. Trailing in her wake were Ebony Buckle, with a well-deserved secind place and with Canadian prog duo Crown Lands in 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.
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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.
BRUCE SOORD – PILLARS
The Pineapple Thief frontman got the campaign for his new solo album, Ghosts In The Park, well and truly underway with the release of a video for the first single, Pillars. The album, a record shaped by loss, memory, and the quiet spaces that reveal themselves when life continues to move while everything else appears to stop, is released through Kscope on May 29.
“Excessive, damaging introspection, I guess, is the theme of the song,” Soord says of the new single. “I remember the day in my life when I was liberated from my god-fearing introspection. Only then could I see the damage it had done to me and was still doing to the people around me. The song is about that: the damage I have witnessed. It’s framed around religion and penance, but it’s not anti-religion, it’s about balance. Oh and the line about pillars. It’s a bit of a playful reference to Saint Simeon Stylites, a Christian ascetic from around 400 AD. Legend has it he perched on top of a pillar for 37 years, taking himself away from the world in order to dedicate his life entirely to prayer, fasting, and repentance. I thought it was quite apt.”
EXPLORING BIRDSONG – YOU LIKE IT BEST WHEN IT HURTS
Much-loved UK pop prog trio Exploring Birsong have finally announced they will release their long-awaited debut album, Every House We Built, through Long Branch Records on June 26. They also released a video for another new single, the pounding You Like It Best When It Hurts, which, much like the theme behind recent singles, shines a light on destructive behaviour and abusive relationships.
“You Like It Best… actually began its life as a completely different song, but easily found a way to take the shape that it has now,” says singer and keyboardist Lynsey Ward. “For as long as we’ve been a band, we’ve been proud that our sound has such broad shoulders, so we felt we could really push our influences from heavy music out into the open with this one and create the heaviest Birdsong music to date. Lyrically, it is written about observing a type of person that we have all come across- self-sabotaging and self-destructive, almost to the point where it seems that they can’t -or don’t want to – break the cycle. More new territory for us, as we’re now equipped to convey anger and aggression convincingly-it felt completely natural to write a bit of a love letter to heavy music whilst channelling our own frustrations.”
THE CLAYPOOL LENNON DELIRIUM – MEAT MACHINES
The Claypool Lennon Delirium, who, by now, most of you should know as Les Claypool of Primus and Sean Lennon, will release their third full-length album, The Great Parrot-Ox And The Golden Egg Of Empathy, on May 1 through ATO Records. It’s a 14-song concept record reflecting on morality, mortality, and the warnings of A.I., new single, the mournful Meat Machines, muses on whether human beings still have agency in a culture that seems increasingly ready to reduce life to function.
“Some people think humans are just biological machines,” states Lennon. “They think free will is a hallucination and we’re destined to be replaced by robots. Not only are they happy about this, but they’re actively trying to make it happen as fast as possible. Some of us think we still have a choice. We think there’s something special about living, breathing and feeling. We believe we can shape our own destiny, because we know we are more than just Meat Machines.”
VLMV – TRIBAL (A HEART, SELF TAUGHT)
It’s always a delight to take on board new music from VLMV, which is pronounced ALMA, and the main vehicle for composer and multi-instrumentalist Pete Lambrou. New album, There Will Come Soft Rains, is as melancholic as any VLMV fan could hope for, but sees Lambrou pushing the sound on, mixing ambient and more prog-friendly sounds with his natural post-rock. It’s out through Pelagic Records on April 24.
“Tribal (A Heart, Self-Taught) was the first track written for the new album, and sort of set the tone for the rest to follow,” Lambrou explains. “A Berlin-inspired, ambient techno piece that is more rhythmic and drum-led than anything I’ve done before. It’s an angry yet hopefully communal call to the wilds and questions whether we’ve completely missed the tipping point.”
LOST IN KYIV – BURST
“We almost consider this album as the first record of a new version of the band,” explains French quartet, who have changed the last word of their name from Kiev to Kyiv for the latest album, We’re All Going To Be Fine, whch is out through Pelagic Records on June 19. The album sees the band adding some serious grit to their atmospheric post-rock sound, perfectly encapsulated on the first single release, Burst.
“We’re All Going To Be Fine explores the tension between hope and inner collapse, and how modern life can disconnect us from ourselves and each other,” the band say. “The songs were inspired by personal experiences, societal pressure, and the idea that we often become our own worst enemy. We were also inspired by the work of Carl Gustav Jung (who is the voice at the end of the album), especially his ideas about exploring the human psyche, as well as themes from movies like Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind or Melancholia.”
AISLES – NOW IS THE TIME
Chilean prog quintet Aisles will release their as-yet-untitled next album later this year. It will be their first with current singer Boris Seeder, and much like he did with previous single, last year’s Blue Skies and is very much at the forefront of the pulsating prog pop of new single, Now Is The Time. A prophetic sing title? It certainly bodes well for the future…
“The lyrics explore what happens when someone chooses to obey those external voices instead of their own heart,” the band state. “In the story, one person ultimately walks away, leaving the other questioning how something real could be abandoned simply to satisfy the expectations of others?”
LONG DISTANCE CALLING – SINISTER COMPANION
German proggy post-rockers Long Distance Calling celebrate their 25th anniversary this year, and they’re doing it in style with the release of ninth studio album, The Phantom Void, out through earMusic on April 10. Like previous singles, the emphatic Sinister Companion uses a central figure in the videos to convey the instrumental band’s concept with startling effect.
“As the closing track of the album, Sinister Companion delivers a fulminant, exhilarating finale,” the band say. “A last, dramatic surge of energy that encapsulates the emotional depth and raw intensity of The Phantom Void. The song marks the culmination of the conceptual and audiovisual journey the band has crafted over the past months.”
