WAITING FOR MIRACLES

Back with the first Flower Kings album in six years, one immediately notes that long-time keyboard player Tomas Bodin is no longer with the band. He was an original member of the band, playing on the debut 'Back In The World of Adventures' back in 1995, and every release since, so I was very surprised to see him missing as he has been a key part of the sound since the beginning. This led me to do some quick checking of personnel and I was pleased to see other long-time members Hasse Fröberg (vocals) and Jonas Reingold (bass) still there alongside Roine Stolt (guitars, keyboards, ukulele, vocals). They have now been joined by Zach Kamins (keyboards, glockenspiel, guitar, Theremin, harmonium) and drummer Mirko DeMaio.

The Flower Kings will always have a special place in my affections, as I still remember being sent the solo album by the ex-Kaipa guitarist almost 30 years ago now, and the impact it had on me, never thinking it would lead to a full band. In addition, it was the first concert I ever took my youngest daughter to (and the photo of her at that gig, taken by the official tour photographer, appears at the end of Volume 3 of The Progressive Underground). I absolutely adore their music, and always look forward to each album, but always with just a hint of doubt. The reason for this is that Roine likes long songs and long albums (this one is well over 80 minutes in length), and it doesn't always work. There are times in the past where I have bemoaned the lack of an outside set of ears and the willingness to cull minutes of music from a song and make it more direct. However, the more recent albums have seen a much more focussed approach (even if no shorter), so what is this like?

Over recent years Roine has been working with other musicians and solo, and this is the first official new Flower Kings album since 2013's, 'Desolation Rose', with a new keyboard player to boot (I think there have been six or seven drummers over the years so they can obviously survive those changes). But, with Roine obviously very much in control, Hasse Fröberg still in fine voice and Reingold playing his normal set of different basses, adding the right sound where he needs to, I really shouldn't have worried. This is classic Flower Kings, as if they had never been away and as if Bodin was still there. Harmony vocals, lush sounds, layering of instruments, plenty of hooks and plenty of time for musicians to extend themselves without ever moving too far into the area of proving just how clever they are, this is an album any proghead will sit back with and smile.

The first time I listened to this I played it on headphones (always best with these guys I find) and just drifted along on a progressive wave, thoroughly enjoying the experience and never once wondering why they yet again weren't using an editor to cut back on their more over the top moments. Delicate when they need to be, rocky when the time is right, The Flower Kings are back with a wonderful release which is going to make them new friends with the old ones more than happy. Let's just hope we don't have to wait so long for the next one.

The Flower Kings' 2019 return must be seen as quite a happy event in the [not so small] world of prog rock, some six years after their last release, one of the most celebrated and productive modern prog bands pleased their followers with a two-disc set of entirely new music, titled 'Waiting for Miracles'. The title itself hints that the band might be referencing the weird state of the world this album happens to be born in, with much tumult and stress gradually penetrating the lives of people - happily, these Swedish gods of symphonic prog offer a collection of uplifting songs that present a different perspective, a more hopeful and beautiful one. We should also note that this new album is strikingly different from the couple excellent releases that came before it in the period 2012-13, that were dominated by a much darker and introverted atmosphere (that is charming in a much different way, of course). Additionally, not only does the band present a sonic shift, but also a line-up one: longtime keyboard maestro Tomas Bodin had left the band, for reasons not necessarily disclosed (but most likely based on creative collisions with the rest of the crew), to be replaced by American player Zach Kamins, a dedicated and talented fan of the band; German drummer Felix Lehrmann had also parted ways with the Kings, leaving the stage to newcomer Mirko De Maio from Italy, another interesting addition to the five-piece band.

So, the big question is, and this has to be valid both for people who are well aware of TFK's catalogue and for music lovers that are eager to explore something new: Why is this album worth my attention? Well, from one side, it is incredibly eclectic - the band venture on to the realms of classical music, free improvisation, electronica & electronic rock, suspenseful prog, and even, joyous flowery pop, so what's not to like about an album that present so many different moods, sounds, and types of songs? As for the lengths of the composition, the listener might either get a 10-minute mini-epic or a 5-minnute instrumental, it is all in there. Another positive of 'Waiting for Miracles' is that it is so uplifting - as mentioned before, this album is a departure from the sound that The Flower Kings last presented with 'Desolation Rose' in 2013; Now it seems like their world is more carefree, more approachable, more easily enjoyable. And another interesting aspect of this 2019 release is that it is quite a memorable one, despite the variety of the songs, and the sometimes-complex instrumentation, the songs just stay in your head, whether you like them or not. However, I truly believe that this is an album of which every single listener can make up something - a meaning, a connection, an interpretation, a criticism, an association; It is an album that allows you to tune in to it and to analyze it, without putting pressure on you. It is an easy-going and welcoming album, and once again, this is on the premise that you might end up loving it, hating it, or just appreciating it for what it is.

Some highlights from 'Waiting for Miracles' would certainly include the epic 'Black Flag', with the gradual build-up of expectation, the catchy 'Miracles for America', the romantic ballad-type song 'The Bridge', the instrumental 'Ascending to the Stars', 'Sleep with the Enemy', another great song by the band, or even the more cosmic and dreamier 'Spirals' from side two. But please do not disregard the rest of the record as unworthy of mention or anything of this sort because there really are no band songs or compositions, you could really have any track as your favorite, and this has to be one of the strengths of The Flower Kings' 2019 offering. Still, it is a record on which the core of the band get familiar with the new kids on the block, and sometimes the results might not be as 'epic' as the listener familiar with the band's previous output might expect, indicating that there are stronger LPs in their discography.

There's probably an interesting book - or at least a big long Prog Magazine article - to be written at some point in the future telling the hidden inner story of the Flower Kings. After their early run of albums took on such a joyous and sunny disposition, a bit of incongruous darkness seemed to creep in here and there, after their late 2000s hiatus they came back with a couple of albums in the early 2010s of which the latter, Desolation Rose, seemed outright grim. Then there was the weirdness around "Roine Stolt's The Flower King", a project through which Stolt put out Manifesto of an Alchemist, an album undeniably in a Flower Kings style but which had the absence of Tomas Bodin hanging over it.

In 2019 we got a new Flower Kings album proper - never mind the debates about what Manifesto of an Alchemist counts as, this one's got the name on and everything - and no Tomas Bodin. Whatever the reasons for this, the band don't seem to be letting it get them down - quite the opposite, in fact. This is the most effortlessly optimistic and happy-sounding album the group have released for quite some time, and a capable blending of numerous sonic styles. At points it seems like they are borrowing a lot from classic bands like Genesis, then things shift and they seem to be playing in a mode not unlike fellow 1990s prog revivalists like Spock's Beard, and then things will shift again and you'll hear them indulging in fairly cutting-edge electronic stuff which could open for Ozric Tentacles.

All of this would be incoherent without sufficient care given to the connecting tissue and the overall compositional structures, and the band seem to have that down pat here. Clearly, the departure of Bodin, who'd been part of the Kings ever since Back In the World of Adventures, has not slowed them down at all, and whilst he of course made valuable and important contributions to their prior work, new keyboard maestro Zach Kamins does a fine job as well.

Whilst the 2012-2013 reactivation of the group seems to have been a brief flash in the pan, this time the end of the hiatus seems to have stuck, with no less than three additional studio albums (at the time of writing) emerging after this. I can well understand why - the compositions are tighter, the emotional tenor of the music is better communicated than it has been for a long time, the quality control has improved, and in general I'd say this is the best album they've put out since The Rainmaker.