The opening track Invisible begins with a dramatic 25-second slice of a cappella, as a cavalcade of voices croon ‘hello out there, can you see me… I hope it’s not right, but I feel that I might be turning invisible’. Cheekily, it’s not actually a taster of what’s to come, although Spock’s Beard will do it again with even more vocal pyrotechnics, on Afourthoughts. As we ought to know after 33 years and, now, 14 albums, it’s hard to predict what they’re going to do in the next minute, let alone over a whole album.
Some of the basics remain on their first album since 2018’s relatively tentative Noise Floor. The Californians are still as complex as Yes – Going For The One era mostly, oddly enough - and they scatter harmonies like Beach Boys-sponsored confetti, all while sounding as crisp as a Walkers ready salted.
