Welcome to Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week! We've got six new and diverse slices of progressively inclined music for you to enjoy.
Congratulations to US modern prog quintet Advent Horizon, whose track Past Life Parable won last week's Tracks Of The Week by a country mile, with Australian prog rockers Teramaze in second and with Midge Ure in third place.
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.
TARJA - AT SEA
Former Nightwish singer Tarja Turunen has just announced that she will release her new album, Frisson Noir, through earMusic on June 12. To launch she's released a video for At Sea, a mighty ten-minute epic full of sweeping orchestra strings. the albums ees guest spots from Turunen's old Nightwish pal Marko Hietala, Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, Dani Filth and Apocalyptica.
Says Tarja: "In an era where technology can generate songs instantly, the album celebrates the human element in music: real performances, breath, imperfection, uncontrolled emotion, and the unpredictable spark that turns a song into an experience."
CROWN LANDS - THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Heavy rock ballads about dragons? Canadian prog duo Crown Lands deliver something in shorter form after the epic title track of their upcoming album, Apocalypse, which is released through InsideOut Music on May 15. The more compact Through The Looking Glass gives a hint of what Led Zeppelin might have sounded like if they'd taken an even proggier route. And jammed with Rush.
“Through The Looking Glass features rolling 12-string arpeggios, Mellotrons, and a 7/8 bridge featuring Moog leads into full proggy fun while also serving up a big chorus. I love this one," enthuses guitarist and keyboardist Kevin Comeu. "We wanted this song to show the might of the Dragon-Riders before the arrival of the Syndicate on Fearless’ planet. Is there anything cooler than heavy rock ballads about dragons? I think not.”
ED O'BRIEN - BLUE MORPHO
Best known as the guitarist for Radiohead (the tall one who's not related to Jonny Greenwood), Ed O'Brien releases his new solo album, Blue Morpho, through his new label, Transgressive, on May 22. The album is O'Brien's first solo release to bear his full name. His debut solo album, Earth, was released under the EOB title in 2020, just as the pandemic hit, and as the beautiful title track suggests, the album is a subtle blend of psych-led folk and prog-adjacent cinematic sounds.
“I’m not hiding anymore," O'Brien reveals. "I was hiding behind a doppelgänger called EOB. I had huge insecurities. Coming from Radiohead, knowing I’d be compared to Thom Yorke or Jonny Greenwood, I felt like, ‘Who am I?’ But going through that, you come out the other side and think, ‘I don’t care anymore.’ That’s a really liberating place.”
EBONY BUCKLE - MOON BLOOD
Delightfully inventive art rocker (not to mention member of proggers du jour Solstice), Ebony Buckle, has shared a video of her performing the no-holds-barred Moon Blood, acoustically, with the Queer London Collective string quartet. The song was recorded during the Summer Cottage Sessions in March of this year.
"I think the song for me, was a way of understanding the journey through womanhood, from suddenly being a young woman in a world that stares so much at you and tells you everything you have to be, to moving through that and taking back some sense of self," Buckle explains. "Stepping in the Moon Blood and walking away from all the lies."
GRICE - JUDGEMENT DAY
Art rocker Grice will release his latest album, Filter, through Hungersleep Records on May 29. It's an album that explores the idea of musical frequencies and transmissions, moving between shortwave, medium wave and VHF-inspired sonic palettes, from the 12-minute improvised centrepiece, Dumah, to more compact fare such as catchy new single, Judgement Day.
"Filter is a reflection on an age of unaccountability and diminishing humanity, an exploration of the algorithmic filters employed to stream and manipulate information, the multiple social filters we apply to ourselves, the precious organic and natural filters, the atmosphere, algae and corals that purify and protect our world which are under threat and the filters we use to drown out the noise that is all around us," says Grice Peters. "We are at 85 seconds to midnight, the atomic clock is ticking!"
AMULETS - COILED
Amulets is a musical project created by Portland-based audio/visual artist Randall Taylor, who mix ambient, post-rock and prog sounds. Coiled features multi-instrumentalist Patrick Shiroishi, and is the secind track to be released from the band's upcoming EP, Rem(a)inders, which is out on April 10 through Pelagic Records.
"Rema(i)nders started as a fragmented collection of songs, memories, ideas, and feelings that I wanted to mash and warp together beyond recognition," says Taylor. "What I ended up creating was a beautiful mosaic of texture and light in this darkening world. To remain is to remind. To remind is to remain."
