THE SILENT CORNER AND THE EMPTY STAGE

Van Der Graaf Generator have arguably become my favourite band in the last year and a bit since I discovered them. I just love everything about them and their sound, from Hammill screaming existential opuses, to Jaxon's wailing sax, to Banton's unreal Hammond organ, to Guy Evans ripping the drum kit apart. So it would come as no suprise to anyone that I would delve head first into Peter's solo discography eventually. My first experince was with Nadir's Big Chance, which is pretty lighthearted and accesible compared to VDGG standards. But after that, my sights were immediately set on this one, as I found the album cover very special and kinda creepy. Also I have a thing where I can just kinda tell if I'm gonna like an album just from reading the song titles, which most of times rather uncanningly turns out to be accurate. I was totally prejudiced into liking this album already, as it is literally the most highly rated solo album of the principal songwriter of my favourite band. Context rambling out of the way, let's get to the good stuff.

I managed to get through the whole album for the first time on New Years Day, kicking off the year in a proggy fashion. I had attemped to listen to the album in its entirety on two occasions before, but the first 3-4 tracks just exhausted me, which only served to enforce the legend of the 'ultimate VDGG lost album'. And to be honest, I probably needed another month after that to get a good grasp of this album. This is one of the reasons I think prog never became trully mainstream. It is complex music that requires literal effort and time to grasp, appreciate and enjoy , which is one of the things I love about it, and this album has been one of the toughest to crack. I think the fact that it has still got me thinking after 7 months of regularly listening to most of its songs means it has trully succeded in being a thought-provoking statement of artistic expression, which is what Peter and many other prog gods sought out to bless us with. So let's get to specifics.

The three tracks that for me are borderline 11/10 tracks are Modern, The Lie, and of course, A Louse Is Not A Home. From beginning to end, I find them to be flawless. Modern has that strange accoustic guitar driving the song along, a perfect example of a Sofa Sound masterpiece. "Like the inmates of asylums all the citizens are contagiously insane". Amen. The Lie is probably one of the main reasons why I'll get some piano lessons in the next couple of years(along with Pilgrims), those piano parts paired with Peter's stunning vocals are just orgasmic, no other word for it. Then......... what can I say about Louse that has not already been said. 12 minutes of exploring the nature of indentity and how to find your spiritual and literal place in the world, with musical passages that more than rise up to the task. Distorted bass, grand piano and a trully screaming sax perfomance tie together the lyrics with the music. A true epic. Proggy, dramatic, loud, sad, brilliant.

I would not blame you if you were to think that from the way I just praised those three songs , that I feel that way for every single song Hammill has written. As easy as it would be to force myself to believe that, it is simply not the case. While I have not found a song written by Peter that I honestly dislike, I don't have the same fondness for all of them. In terms of this album, the only song is find to be forgettable is Rubicon, it never made an impact on me. Wilhelmina, Forsaken Gardens and Red Shift are great and intersting tracks, just not on the level of the aforementioned three. When I was first listening to the album, Gardens was actually one of my favourite tracks, and while I will still blast it with furious joy, the others just kept getting better. Red Shift has that atmospheric-experimental glow, but I doubt anyone has listened to it on repeat. Great experimental passages and a cool vibe, but that's as far as it goes for songs of that character. Overall I think it is to be expected that a post-VDGG Hammill would let lose on his solo albums and take risks, since he didn't have to live up to the VDGG name and the reputation of being an ever-evolving ruthless and uncompromising prog machine. Regardless, he has always said that he always did what he liked, and never cared about opinions and expectations. But I once again digress.

So let's finally adress the question I posed as the motivation for writing this article. Taking into consideration the tracks that I don't hold so close to my heart, this album is a 4/5 if I'm being honest with my biased Hammill-Superfan self. But I can help, when taking into consideration how absolutely masterful those three tracks are, and how much room for different interpretations the other tracks leave, but to consider this essential listening for anyone with an intrest in uncompromising eclectic prog. It contains powerful lyrics that make you think and have something to say along with the eclectic instrumentation that we've come to love from Hammil and Co.l It belongs in the pantheon of prog, maybe not on the level of Thick As A Brick, Pawn Hearts or Red, but definetely somewhere in the mix.

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