SKYE

Monarch Trail is keyboardist and composer Ken Baird teaming up with the rhythm section of Dino Verginella on bass and Chris Lamont on drums, both of whom had previously worked with Baird on his solo albums. Teaming up with a range of guest guitarists, they offer up a brand of romantic, emotive neo-prog that's not so far away from the likes of early IQ. This and the cover art - which manages to be quite evocative despite its somewhat simple style - makes it sound credibly like some lost album from the early days of the neo-prog scene, when in fact it's a tasty dose of pastoral symphonic rock from present-day Canada. If you're very keen on this style of music, you will probably like it, though at the same time the vocals are not as confident as one might hope and there's plenty of better material along these lines out there.