THE TANGENT: Songs From The Hard Shoulder (PROGRESSIVE ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

In its twentieth year of existence, Andy Tillison's project, The Tangent, a band with various contours since its origin, offers a twelfth studio album in the form of a return to the roots of progressive rock and its glorious years: three tracks longer than 16 minutes, plus a fourth of the same length as a bonus track, an extended cover of a UK title, and an isolated four-minute single, placed there as the answer to a game of "look for the intruder".

With a line-up unchanged for three albums, the successor of the decried "Self-Recognition", an album illustrating Andy Tillison's unpleasant propensity to transform his productions into a political arena, forgetting the melodic side in the process, starts with a first track (inevitably) inspired by the pandemic and the loneliness generated by the confinement, a loneliness that we find directly on the artwork. On the other hand, the artist clearly explains that the three main tracks turn out to be completely independent from each other in their content, each one being similar to a different album.

The first minutes of 'The Changes' take us into a soft-jazz atmosphere, where the instruments delicately lay down their score on a slow rhythmic, then come together in an electric chorus offering a first indication of the complexity proposed throughout this first epic track. The instrumentalists are very gifted and the format allows them to express all their talent, with a first special mention for Luke Machin whose guitar solo illuminates the final.

'GPS Vultures' is completely instrumental, a nod to 'GPS Culture' - a track released on the album "A Place in the Queue" - of which this long track takes up some small pieces of themes from that time, that the regulars of the band's productions will recognize without a doubt. In the first part, the debates are led by the Hammond organ before the guitar takes over to take all this little world with a dexterity like no other in an unbridled farandole.

In a more pictorial register although very dark, 'The Lady Tied to the Lamp Post' tells the story of a homeless woman, an introspective way to question our relationship with others and our selfish society. The music offers a multitude of contrasts between very dark and even plaintive passages, and bright moments of hope. In the middle of all that is left a beautiful place to the bass of Jonas Reingold, notably highlighted during a solo of any beauty.

Musically very rich, "Song From the Hard Shoulder" erases the last two mixed productions of The Tangent. And even if Andy Tillison's vocals remains very ordinary, the quality of the instrumentalists and the space left to them to express themselves make that this new album will bring many tasty listenings, the time to assimilate all the subtleties. - Official website

THE TANGENT

SONGS FROM THE HARD SHOULDER

INSIDEOUT MUSIC

PROGRESSIVE ROCK