Steve Howe announces second album with Virgil – watch the cosmic video for Lunar Mist here

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Yes guitarist Steve Howe gathers late son's recordings for their second full-length collaboration, Lunar Mist

Steve and Virgil Howe studio shot
(Image credit: Stephanie Howe)

Steve Howe has confirmed he will release a second album under the banner of Virgil and Steve Howe. Lunar Mist will be released via InsideOut on September 23 – watch the video for the title track below.

The father-and-son team's completed their first album, Nexus, in August 2017 but a month later, Virgil died unexpectedly. Steve decided to release the record in tribute to the drummer that November but one finished song remained unreleased. 

“After Nexus,” Steve tells Prog, “I thought maybe that was it, and we wouldn’t have any more resources for Virgil’s music. We had a track of his called Lunar Mist completely finished for a Japanese release, which never transpired. It sat on the shelf, but when I played it again I thought it was fantastic, Virgil had added so much production, keyboard and development ideas. So then I had a good dig around.”

Steve, whose most recent album with Yes was 2021's The Quest, began working on the new material over Christmas 2020.

"I started by writing chord charts for all the other tunes, before adding guitars and bass guitars to embellish them and bring them to completion. In the most part I kept them as he’d written them but sometimes I expanded them with further ideas and improvisation."

The guitarist adds, “Virgil shows some different musical characteristics here that were such a joy to play on. There’s more of his great drumming and a broader inventiveness in his compositions."

The album – which includes a front cover painting by Virgil's daughter Zuni – will be available on Limited CD Digipak, 180g Black LP, CD and digital formats.

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cover artwork for Virgil and Steve Howe's Lunar Mist

(Image credit: Press)

Lunar Mist tracklist

1. Lunar Mist 03:52
2. More Than You Know 03:05
3. Plexus 04:09
4. Mariah’s Theme 03:16
5. A Month In The Sun 04:39
6. As If Between 02:43
7. Never Less 02:55
8. Lothian’s Way 03:06
9. Free Spirit 02:45
10. Eternal 03:09
11. Dirama 02:38
12. Pinnacle 02:02
13. Pagoda 02:19
14. Martian Mood 03:59

Natasha Scharf
Natasha Scharf
Deputy Editor, Prog

Contributing to Prog since the very first issue, writer and broadcaster Natasha Scharf was the magazine’s News Editor before she took up her current role of Deputy Editor, and has interviewed some of the best-known acts in the progressive music world from ELP, Yes and Marillion to Nightwish, Dream Theater and TesseracT. Starting young, she set up her first music fanzine in the late 80s and became a regular contributor to local newspapers and magazines over the next decade. The 00s would see her running the dark music magazine, Meltdown, as well as contributing to Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, Terrorizer and Artrocker. Author of music subculture books The Art Of Gothic and Worldwide Gothic, she’s since written album sleeve notes for Cherry Red, and also co-wrote Tarja Turunen’s memoirs, Singing In My Blood. Beyond the written word, Natasha has spent several decades as a club DJ, spinning tunes at aftershow parties for Metallica, Motörhead and Nine Inch Nails. She’s currently the only member of the Prog team to have appeared on the magazine’s cover.