Issue 2024-080

Roland Bühlmann — Figurative

Calum Gibson

Roland Bühlmann is a composer, producer and pinhole photographer from Switzerland, with influences in prog rock and fusion. The music reflects this as well as his other interests and perceptions. Figurative is an interesting mix of soundscapes, prog riffs and solos, and harks back to the classics of the rise of prog — the likes of Mike Oldfield and Pink Floyd.

The production is of very high quality, and Roland is clearly an accomplished musician and producer, having handled every aspect of the album's creation.

Some of the textures and layers of the album have a similar quality to early Porcupine Tree work as well, bass lines driving the main rhythm while the guitar weaves and flows through clean backing and tightly paced solos, all the while building upon each other to create an ethereal wall.

The album is a fascinating piece of work, and captures the magic and intrigue of classic prog, but showcases it with a modern twist and superb production values. Absolutely recommend this for any long term prog fans, even if it isn't normally your style.

Daniel Crommie — Deciphering The Language Of Bells

Jan Buddenberg

As much as I'd like to follow artists that I've previously reviewed, there are those who make this fairly difficult. The extremely prolific Daniel Crommie is such an artist. The Canadian composer and multi-instrumentalist managed to release a massive amount of albums over the course of his career, either solo or collectively with projects like Group Du Jour and DC Sound Collective. If my calculations are correct, this marks his 20th effort in six years' time.

True to style and literally bookended by the engagingly relaxing sounds of Bells, Crommie explores a musical style that balances ambient, avant-garde, new wave, and EM, plus movements of earthly percussive beats and flute. Especially the latter is what lights up this collection of songs for me, as it often rings a bell of early 80s Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull).

As I wrote in several of my previous reviews, I enjoy this style of fully instrumental ambient music so much more when song titles are reflected in the song's melodies, moods, rhythms and atmosphere. Crommie is a master in this. Soft Light demonstrates through is utterly relaxing illuminating glow of dreamy flute melodies, which are the perfect accompaniment for a candlelight lit Zen massage. Another fine example is Lions & Lambs. A slight industrial ambient start is followed by scenic impressions of a tundra that purrs with psychedelic wildlife whilst echoing tribal percussion and gracious flute.

Moving more towards the new wave spectrum, Octane Oasis shows similar continental appeal courtesy of intricately construed rhythmic beats and delightful flute. As does In Transit, which reminds me of Robert Schroeder. Seasoned with an eerie sting of daunting mysteriousness, the psychedelically flavoured Opalescent Serpents finally travels more towards mystical Egyptian borders.

Next to this, Crommie adds touches of pop rap in the leisurely movements of Basking In Dampness. He brings expressive and spacious brightness with refined piano in Moody Skies. And he creates a beautiful pathway of flowing synths amidst a nicely fabricated machinery of sound in Dystopian Furniture.

All of these comfortingly musical variables are met by mature compositional consistency and skilful delivery, which all together makes Deciphering The Language Of Bells a worthy effort to check out for Crommie listeners and those enjoying transporting chill-out experiences usually associated with new-age, ambient and EM music.

Echotide — As Our Floodlights Gave Way To Dawn

Calum Gibson

Austrialia has been a hotbed of prog for a while now, and Echotide are no strangers to the scene. With three releases under their belt, most recently Dustwun, it is time to have a listen to where it all began with the (belated) 10th anniversary release of their debut album. Originally released in 2012, this remastered version was released 2024.

The album is a slow burner, building on foundations of post rock and walls of sound. It never runs too fast or slow, but relentlessly moves forward at a tempo that conveys the emotions built by the keys and lead guitar work.

There is a lot of styles throughout, from heavy and hard hitting post-metal sounds, to other areas more akin to the likes of Mogwai, and then gentler and more minimal passages. All grow with each other, creating an enthralling network of music that keeps your attention.

I feel they describe it best in their own words: “dynamic song-craft approach, ranging from delicate and minimalist ambient to an all-encompassing wall-of-sound”.

It is a brilliantly crafted album of instrumentals and full of emotion within the atmosphere created and the music itself. For any fans of post rock then this should be in your collection.

Enigmatic Sound Machines — The Hierarchies Of Angels

Calum Gibson

Out of Canada comes a duo of childhood friends with a mutual love of music, art and philosophy. With album number two, The Hierarchies Of Angels, the duo make a “major leap forward stylistically” from the debut Telepathic Waves.

Here, the first half comprises a prog format, while the second half is more focused on electronic rock. Certainly, the first half does have a sound and style similar to The Division Bell era of Pink Floyd. Albeit with less going on.

In truth, unfortunately there is very little going on. It is certainly relaxing, and would make ideal background music, but the drums have very little variation, and instead trundle on with relatively unexciting beats. The keys and guitars add some layers, but equally do little and at a leisurely pace. Kill Switch is a bit more interesting, but is unfortunately hampered by the electronic drums and mass of digital high hats in the background.

You Want kicks off the electronic rock side, and is livelier, with more groove to it. The whole of this side actually has a lot more to it, although still rather minimal, with nice prog/jazz bass lines and vocals and some nice keyboard work. Unfortunately, it is still relatively uneventful throughout with a lot of similarities between all the tracks.

If you like the Gilmour-led Pink Floyd, or prog/jazz styles and minimalist, but chilled electronics then this might be up your street.

The Legendary Ten Seconds — Wonder Songs

Sergey Nikulichev

The Legendary Ten Seconds is a great name for an indie / punk band, was cunningly reserved back in the 2010s by a folk project from Torquay, UK. Making their debut LP in 2013, the band's discography counts an impressive amount of nearly 30 full-length releases in slightly more than a decade, as affirmed by Bandcamp. Wonder Songs proudly stands as already the fourth release by the band since the start of the year. The running time of the release is relatively short, less than half-an-hour, so the review is not supposed to be a long one, either.

In some sense, LTS, led by singer-songwriter Ian Churchward, plays anti-prog music — very song-focused, allowing minimal instrumental fillings and eschewing big forms to the maximum extent. The folk roots of the music are not so much Celtic, as they are chanson and tavern-songs, tinged with some 70s blues / pop to please the ear of the XX-XXI-century listener. This time no Tull, no Clannad and no Gryphon for you, folk-prog lovers (and no Blackmore's Night either).

What the band loses in length of contents, it compensates in folk instruments (tambourine, flute, trumpet) and, unsurprisingly for a folk band, witty lyrics, part storytelling, part ruminations. The narrative touches many subjects from English history to legends and sci-fi, in a fine, decently ironic way. Kudos for "some rights reserved" on the Bandcamp page, also!

Not a lot of standout tracks, but I loved the combination of church choirs and bluesy riff on Dissolution, nice female vocal parts on Home, and the quasi-surf theme of the closing The Machine Man Of Ardathia.

Despite not being a group of virtuosos (and essentially a home project), LTS do arrange their music neatly and record it well. Should you drop in a pub in Torquay and hear a live set of the band, you will not be disappointed either, I wager, no matter how lengthy and epic you prefer your sympho-prog to be. It is a pleasant listen, just not really that prog-oriented.

This record doesn't have: drum solos, bass solos or even guitar solos.

This record has: the longest track of 3:37, semi-acoustic guitars in variety of crunch / clean effects, good humour.