GIANT SKY

Thanks to the up-with-the-times members of ProgArchives, I am made aware of yet another new band from Norway! And I am SO GLAD for it!

1. "The Further We Go the Deeper It Gets (Parts 1-6)" (12:04) One damned fine prog epic--very Pink Floyd like with a more modern pop/psych-electronica sound palette. Great use of female vocals (Myrtoula Røe and Charlotte Stave) and extra percussion. As pleasant as the first third is, the instrumental middle section is pure prog heaven. The final third starts with quite a shift in musical style and sound palette: moving more into the realm of techno-pop or even 1970/80s New Age keyboard/computer sequencing, over which Myrtoula and Charlotte sing. When the vocals get flanged and the bass line drops down and thickens, the ride just gets better--like the best Tangerine Dream jam from their Thief-era music. Awesome! One of my favorite prog epics of 2021. (24/25)

2. "Broken Stone" (9:45) mellow, simple, pretty, with Popcorn computer percussives and female b vox. Really doesn't do much--even in the ARCADE FIRE-like final two and a half minutes. (16.75/20)

3. "Interlude (I Don't Know What You Think of Me but It's Wrong)" (1:31) nice classical-sounding flute and practice/dance hall piano duet. (4.25/5)

4. "No Cancelling This" (5:47) opens using a sequenced Berlin School foundation beneath Erlend Viken ("Eav")'s emotion-packed vocal. In fact, I question whether or not he sings with more passion than expected ? or warranted? The section in which the drums pound away is a bit clumsy--overly flanged and feeling somehow mistimed. The flute and plucked strings/piano section is pretty--and continues nicely to embellish the melody and mood of the previous sections. (8.5/10)

5. "Out of Swords" (8:42) delicate acoustic guitar folk start. This one reminds me of England's GRAVENHURST--the music of the late, great vocalist/songwriter Nick Talbot. Though this song is unarguably gorgeous, the Gravenhurst comparisons are too stark: they conjure up too much pain and sadness for the loss of the late genius' amazing talents. (His 2012 album The Ghost in Daylight is one of my 10 favorite Indie-Folk albums of the 2010s.) Still, the conveyance of empathetic heartbreak and sorrow is masterful and appreciated. I like the theatric production of the final two minutes with the DAMON WAITKUS-like effected vocals and glockenspiel play. (18.5/20)

6. "The Further We Go the Deeper It Gets (Part 7)" (2:54) apparently this is an addendum to the album's opening song. Very spacey with vocalist Marine Skanche's heavily treated vocalise. Could come from a Vangelis or Tangerine Dream soundtrack album. The Berlin School-like rhythms (for the next song) even start in the last minute, adding to this TD effect. (4.75/5) 7. "Breaking Patterns" (7:55) with vocals and guitars revealing themselves within the foundation of the bleed-over from the previous song, there's a lot of MOTORPSYCHO (and Arcade Fire) in this song (the more delicate, acoustic side to those two bands). At 1:45 we launch into the full spectrum of the music as drums and electronic power chords join in with the flute becoming the lead. The vocals that then take over are quite impassioned yet frail of voice--not unlike the lead singer for Arcade Fire, Win Butler. Over the next few minutes I hear strains of Arcade Fire, Tangerine Dream, Mike + The Mechanics ("In the Living Years"), Motorpsycho, Genesis (bass pedal sounds/hits), and even something in the sound engineering that feels like King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Cool acoustic guitar outro! (An homage to David Bowie?) Nice tune. (13.5/15)

Total Time 48:38

I have to admit to liking this Indie-Prog Pop album quite a little--my reactions are more like how I like Arcade Fire than King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard--the two bands that come to mind the most when I listen to this. I also am surprised by how much I like the fairly-isolated and pure-sounding flute on this album--and by how electro-pop the instrument/sound choices are. Very refreshing! Also, I really like Erlend's humility and sensitivity: they feel totally geniune and beautifully human.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece; a refreshing album of crossover prog that I highly recommend for any and all prog lovers.

Giant Sky are a side-project created by Soup keyboard player Erlend Viken (here working in a multi-instrumentalist role) and they released this their debut album in the middle of last year. Now, I notice this has been getting some rave reviews in different places, yet to my ears it is somewhat bland, and in opening number "The Further We Go the Deeper It Gets" there are so many Pink Floyd keyboard sounds that it gets somewhat embarrassing. With different singers and drummers on different tracks, this has very much a project feel about it as opposed to a proper band, and suffers for that. There is a lack of continuity within the different songs, so while the opener is Floyd, "Broken Stone" is very much Mike Oldfield, and then the short "Interlude" is more of a classical duet with piano and flute. I am not sure what it is trying to achieve as it meanders with little in the way of direction.

By now I was halfway through the album, and not really looking forward to the second half, and while different ideas were brought forward, for me they just never gelled as they should. The drum section during "No Cancelling This" is not only clumsy but the sound is somewhat muffled and never gets the cut through one would expect. This album has all the issues one can sometimes get with a multi-instrumentalist solo project in that no-one is going to provide clear commentary to the band leader, and consequently the result is something which is undoubtedly clever with good musicianship but never has the clarity and direction one wants. "Out of Swords" starts with promise, with some wonderfully delicate guitar and vocals, but yet again falls away.

As I said earlier, this has been getting plenty of rave reviews, but it would be boring if we all heard music in the same way, as otherwise we would all be listening to Beyonce or Justin Bieber. A nice production is probably the best thing I can say about this (plus it isn't Beyonce or Justin Bieber, which really is a bonus in my book).