Seven new tracks from across the prog spectrum landed this week, and honestly, the quality speaks for itself. No filler. No reunion cash-grabs. Just bands doing interesting things with interesting sounds.
The Headlines
The biggest news belongs to Lonely Robot, the project helmed by John Mitchell, who has shared a video for The River, the third single from farewell album An Ending, out now through White Knight Records. It's the sixth and final Lonely Robot record, and by all accounts one of the strongest. What makes The River notable is the story behind it: it marks the first writing collaboration in the Lonely Robot universe, with Mitchell co-writing alongside Jez Fielder. Mitchell describes the partnership as "a most fruitful" one, built around "themes of memories and loss born of our shared life experience as a pair of adopted kids." That context gives the track a weight that goes well beyond typical prog introspection.
[Steve Hackett's appearance in the new Kompendium video for Lilly](/uprise/music/steve-hackett-stars-in-brand-new-kompendium-video-for-lilly) is another story worth following. Robert Reed's project has released a director's cut of Beneath The Waves through Tigermoth Records, with Hackett featuring on an extended version of the track. The original album from 2012 was quite the gathering: Gavin Harrison, Nick Barrett, Jakko Jackzyk, Francis Dunnery, Nick Beggs, Troy Donockley and Mel Collins among others. Reed is candid about why it needed revisiting: "Some songs are left off because of time constraints, some not finished, and other choices made in the mix, as you really run out of time." Fair enough. At least he went back and fixed it.
The Rest Of The Batch
France-based instrumental duo lyp are new names on the radar, and they've made a proper first impression. Thibaud Lépicier on guitar and bass, David Annenkoff on drums, with violin, viola and cello pushing the cinematic angle further on debut album I(m)MORTAL, due November 25 through Klonosphere Records/Season Of Mist. Their pitch: exploring "humanity's increasingly fucked-up relationship with nature" without a single lyric. Sometimes that's the right call.
US prog trio Quivira bring a bit of rock history with them. Jake Livgren, nephew of Kansas founding member Kerry Livgren, joins John Baker and keyboardist Lisa LaRue on a self-titled debut album out now through Melodic Revolution Records. The record centres on the story of pre-Kansas Quivira, the Native American villages that Spanish explorer Coronado believed held gold. There's a concept worth your time.
Norwegian outfit Giant Sky, the solo project of Erlend Viken from prog band soup, has shared Lifting Apples from Giant Sky III, the final part of a trilogy featuring Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite. A companion album follows on October 16. Viken describes the record as "a cross-section of the last 25 years of my life as a composer," made deliberately against the grain of algorithms and AI production. Good.
Norwegian quintet The Samuel Jackson Five round things out with Temporary Happiness Revival, taken from upcoming album A Passage to Elsewhere on Karisma Records, due October 30. James Jamerson-inspired bass, neoclassical piano, tape loops and 80s synths: the description sounds like a lot, but the band say it became "a unanimous favourite." And Hastings psych/prog outfit Ditch The Demon chip in with Meat Honey, described as "a prog-rock 'n' rollercoaster of a song about the Devil's hunger for fresh souls." We're not going to pretend that doesn't sound exactly as unhinged as it should.
If you've been sleeping on [what the current prog scene actually looks like](/uprise/music/cool-new-prog-you-need-to-hear-from-downes-braide), weeks like this are a decent place to start paying attention.