Voted Prog’s Best Unsigned Band in 2021, Brighton-based proggers Azure have spent the past two years crafting their magnum opus, Fym. We meet band founders, vocalist Christopher Sampson and guitarist Galen Stapley, to hear the inside story of its fantastical, complex tale.
Close to Brighton’s bustling city centre is a church graveyard that Christopher Sampson and Galen Stapley consider the perfect peaceful place to tell Prog about the finer points – and there are many – of Azure’s third studio album, the seismically dynamic Fym. The pair are exhausted but elated.
It’s been three years since Of Brine And Angel’s Beaks helped them scoop the Best Unsigned Band accolade in our annual readers’ poll; and it’s not hard to understand why it’s taken this long. Fym is designed to build on that success with a serpentine storyline that sees the title character – an introverted historian living in a jungle – embarking on a perilous quest to retrieve shards of a shattered mystical weapon.
Mythical creatures, sorcery and dungeons lie in her path. It’s all brought to life through the panoramic score delivered on an ambitious scale akin to Dream Theater or Haken. Singer/guitarist Sampson, whose stratospheric voice swoops, soars and screams across its marathon 79 minutes, sets the scene.
“This album is the way it is in terms of length – and the complete menagerie of sound we have ended up with – because, regardless of how commercial or accessible we wanted it to come across, it was time for us to make some music where we expressed every sound we felt while working on it together.
“It’s on the opposite end of the spectrum from the vague concept album. This is an absolute concept. Because of how complex and definite the things happening in it are, you must give your listener as much of it as you can musically.”
Guitarist Stapley adds: “Chris and I had a week together just working on the story’s concept. We had the bare bones to start with, but we thought it needed to have dungeons! And there were a couple of story beats we wanted to include involving other characters from our music.”
The title character, Fym Sallow, appears in Sampson’s debut fantasy novel, Path Of The Azdinist: Lu, published last year; along with the Mistress – subject of a previous single – and a winged lavender fox. The album’s dramatis personae also features Redtail and the dragon-warlock Morl Majgyn.
“We spent the week figuring it all out and had so many epiphany moments while we were poring over every part,” continues Stapley. “Once we had all the story beats down, we kept refining it. We went on long walks going over every moment, solving everything until we felt we had the right expressions we wanted to get across.”
Next, it was time to bring in the rest of the band – bassist Alex Miles, keyboardist Shaz Dudhia and drummer Andrew Scott (from Edinburgh’s Owl Shed Studios) – plus guest players including oboist Camille De Carvalho. “We weren’t trying to become a huge symphonic orchestra,” says Sampson. “However, there are certain instruments that Galen and I adore the sound of, one of them being an oboe. It has such a beautiful sound and a sad feeling to it. When it comes for the first time on Beyond The Bloom, it’s the right instrument to convey the mood, and it’s moments like that that we wanted to be real.
“In Kingdom Of Ice And Light we had a placeholder part for a synth for the longest time. But we didn’t accept the song as finished until we heard a real oboe there instead.”
Although Scott played on the album, Dan Haysom now drums at live dates. Stapley continues: “After Andrew laid down his parts, we thought, ‘We can’t mess with this.’ We wanted to make it as organic as we could because his groove was so good. When I went in, I had to make sure I was grooving as hard as he was!”
When Fym finally strikes down the beast, I tried so many ways to strike the notes… I did not believe the beast was slain
Galen Stapley
For keyboardist Dudhia, it was a particularly interesting experience. “I remember seeing Shaz’s face when he saw the score for the first time,” Sampson says. “He sight-reads a lot of his gigs, and we were in the rehearsal room, loading up the score for a track. He saw it from a distance, and he must have thought, ‘Good God!’”
The music is writ large with Stapley’s flowing, sonorous guitar. But as they reached the climax of the immense Trench Of Nalu, Stapley faced a dilemma: “When Fym finally strikes down the beast, this diminished chord comes along. When I played it initially, I tried so many ways to strike the notes, but I was getting frustrated – I did not believe the beast was slain.
“What I did eventually was grab a set of keys and held it to the guitar’s neck. I slashed the strings with the keys, which created this godawful sound, like the beast was collapsing and groaning.”
They recorded the album in almost chronological order, but some bass lines that Miles wrote several years ago provided the foundation of closing track, Moonrise. “I sat down with Alex and talked to him about the structure of the notes, which was one of those compositions that I could sing quietly,” Sampson says. “Vocally, instrumentally, or arrangement-wise, it’s exciting when you can get those extra colours on the palette.”
I bring them ideas that are really out there. They’ll say, ‘Well, this is wrong!’ If I put a note in, it’s there for a reason
Galen Stapley
Those extra colours have also been translated into the vividly evocative album cover created by Brighton artist Felix La Mer, which also features sketches of the characters, a map and some of Sampson’s unique lyrical symbols. The achievement crowns the decade since the pair first met as music students at the University of Sussex.
Sampson laughs: “You come somewhere to study music, learn harmonies, technique and business. Then you come into a band like Azure and think right, ‘Let’s completely rip up the rule book.’ We’re a very chaotic prog band with heavy leanings sometimes.”
Stapley adds: “My favourite thing about writing with Chris is when I do something crazy, they know I’m doing it on purpose. I’ve written with people before, and I bring them ideas that are really out there. They’ll say, ‘Well, this is wrong!’ Others try and fix it – take parts out and fit it into a box of tonality. The bitonality and atonality are intentional. If I put a note in, it’s there for a reason.”
As a result of supporting Solstice two years ago, Sampson contributed to their Light Up album, providing stunning vocal harmonies on the final track, Bulbul Tarang. He’s grateful for the opportunity. “They wanted me to sing this song with their vocalist, Jess Holland, and we also sang it live. As a band, they’re so good at making people feel things that you want to feel again.”
Prior to Fym’s release, Azure took part in a mini tour with Kyros and Leoni Jane Kennedy, two other up-and-coming prog artists. “There’s a variety of bands playing together at our level. We had a fantastic time – people enjoy hearing a mixture of things like that,” says Sampson.
We need to connect with our creativity again, and that will include looking at our live shows
Galen Stapley
Another live highlight was opening Saturday’s proceedings at last year’s Winter’s End, performing to an audience of seasoned festival goers. “It was an amazing gig,” Sampson recalls. “We’d never been to Chepstow, and we knew we were playing to a lot of people who love prog. We came away feeling it was a fun show and we’d love to go back.”
They’re currently taking a break from performances. “We’re not taking bookings for a while,” Stapley says. “We need to connect with our creativity again, and that will include looking at our live shows. We want to expand them to a place where, if we get opportunities to tour with bigger bands, it won’t feel like anything too daunting, and we can give the audiences our all.”
