Welcome to and all new Tracks Of The Week. Six brand-new and diverse slices of progressively inclined music for you to enjoy.
First up, massive congratulations to multi-national prog quintet Seventh Station, who basically battled it out all week with Scots prog metallers Tiberius, pipping them right at the last, and with Don Airey's new solo single in third place.
The premise for Tracks Of The Week is simple - we've collated a batch of new releases by bands falling under the progressive umbrella, and collated them together in one post for you - makes it so much easier than having to dip in and out of various individual posts, doesn't it?
The idea is to watch the videos (or listen if it's a stream), enjoy (or not) and also to vote for your favourite in the voting form at the bottom of this post. Couldn't be easier could it?
We'll be bringing you Tracks Of The Week, as the title implies, each week. Next week we'll update you with this week's winner, and present a host of new prog music for you to enjoy.
If you're a band and you want to be featured in Prog's Tracks Of The Week, send your video (as a YouTube link) or track embed, band photo and biog to us here.
FROST* - WESTERN ATMOSPHERE
Jem Godfrey sprung a surprise on all Frost* fans earlier this week with the surprise release of a standalone single, Western Atmosphere. The track, which featured as a bonus track on the Japanese edition of the band's recent Life In The Wires album was recorded with a totally different line-up, with Jem joined by Randy McStine (Steven Wilson, Porcupine Tree – live guitarist), Mike Keneally (Devin Townsend) & Nick D’Virgilio (Big Big Train). It certainly makes for interesting listening.
"I sometimes wonder what would have happened had I stayed in bed 10 minutes longer than I did on Monday 11th of January 2010," laughs Godfrey. "Perhaps my life would have gone in a completely different direction and Frost* would have ended up with the lineup of myself on keys, vocals and bass, Mike Keneally on guitar, Nick D’Virgilio on drums and Randy McStine on guitar and vocals. We’ll never know, I guess.”
KLONE - UNSEEN
French prog rock sextet Klone's most recent album, The Unseen, has been winning deserved plaudits for the band, as indeed they received for previous albums Le Grand Voyage (2019) and Meanwhile (2023). Big on atmospherics and with Yann Ligner soulful and impassioned vocal performances, they really deserve to be so much bigger. Here's hoping the wider prog community wakes up to their charms soon...
"It’s a contemplative piece which takes time to fully open up," Ligner explains of the title track from the recent album. "Musically, we tried to strike a delicate balance between melancholy and optimism and lyrically I tried to reflect the fleeting beauty of a vulnerable nature and, as such, the importance of embracing the present moment; whatever it may bring.”
DIM GRAY - FEATHERS
Norwegian art-rockers Dim Gray show their reflective side on new single Feathers, which is taken from the band's upcoming third album, Shards, whch the band release on their own Dim Gray Records on February 28. The band's earlier single Peril, also from the forthcoming album, picked up the accolade for Prog's Tracks Of The Week towards the end of last year, so undoubtedly hopes are high for their latest...
"I wrote Feathers when I was 20," explains lead vocalist/keyboardist Oskar Holldorff, who also moonlights in Big Big Train. "Back then I thought it was the best song I had written, but it didn’t match with what we were trying to do with Dim Gray. However, I revisited the song a couple of years ago and tried to rework it into a more streamlined track, while preserving its original spirit. The band really brought the song to life; and the size of the choruses and bridge really shows the punch we now pack as a five-piece. I also had the great honour of working on this song with one of my favourite producers, Lars Horntveth, who inspired reharmonisation of parts of the song which helps keep the listener on their toes.”
PENELOPE TRAPPES - RED DOVE
Brighton-based Australian vocalist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Penelope Trappes takes listeners on an intriguing journey. Red Dove was written following what she refers to as an “Armageddon dream” that ended with the vivid image of a boy holding a red dove. Trappes felt like this dream was about humanity becoming numb, stripped of emotion, and lost in their pain. The accompanying video, from Agnes Haus was inspired by a Werner Herzog documentary. Trappes releases her fifth full-length album A Requiem through One Little Independent on April 4.
"I felt like this dream was about humanity becoming numb, stripped of emotion, and completely lost in their pain," Trappes explains. "Sleepwalking. Swallowing the Bitter Pill. The general acceptance of destructive, violent and toxic social norms. The Red dove being a conduit of the world's negativity, yet held peacefully in the hands of an innocent child."
MISSION JUPITER - HUMAN NATURE
Belarusian trio Mission Jupiter, who have previously featured in Tracks Of The Week, share another new single, Human Nature, ahead of the release of their latest album Aftermath, which is scheduled for release this Spring. The new song displays the far-reaching appeal of the band who mix atmospheric prog, the darker undercurrents of Cocteau Twins and up-tempo alternative metal into their sound. "It isn’t hard to imagine Adele having a hit with this," muses the band's label, and to be honest, it's hard to disagree.
"People tend to be divided and not to look beyond their own doorstep, which is a major problem," the band say. "This song asks if we are able to be less selfish and greedy to try and overcome this typical aspect of human nature, or at the very least attempt to be better?"
LIQUID BEAR - HEADLESS
Young French quartet Liquid Bear describe themselves as "a new kind of prog rock" and it's not difficult to see what they mean with latest single Headless. Whilst words like that probably strike fear into the heart of the purist, this is the future. Young bands inspired by our heroes - in this case largely King Crimson, and creating vibrant new rock music of a very proggy persuasion. The band have released two EPs thus far and their debut album, Second Life, is released on February 7.
"Second Life explores various aspects of the construction of our individuality and the influences of our social environment," the band state.
