Welcome to Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week. Six brand new and diverse slices of progressive music for you to enjoy.
Congratulations to The Dave Foster Band whose excellent new single Delicate Things won last week's Tracks Of The Week. They were pushed all the way by York duo The Bee Tellers and with Marjana Semkina 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 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.
TRIFECTA - STROBASCOPIC FENNEL
Nick Beggs takes a trip round his local Tesco for the video for Trifecta's latest single, the bubbling, funky psychedelia of Strobascopic Fennel. The song is certainly at the quirkier end of Trifecta's output, which frequently delves into more serious prog fusion fare with bandmates Craig Blundell and Adam Holzman. The second Trfiecta album, The New Normal, was released on Kscope last month, and as well as quality musical chops has plenty of Beggsian humour too!
"In a post-apocalyptic world it won’t be only our vegetables that glow in the dark," laughs the bassist. "So I thought I’d offer a handy recipe to help the few survivors cope with the last days of running the house. Add salt to taste."
EIVØR - HUGSIE BERT UM TEG/STILL JUST YOU
Faroese art rocker Eivør releases her new album ENN through new record label Season Of Mist on June 14. It's her twelfth album and Hugsie Bert Um Teg/Still Just You is the second single to be released from the new album, a track very much rooted at the more mainstream end of her output, the song's mix of electronica and dream pop infusing the melody deep in the brain. The video's pretty cool too.
"I usually spend A LOT of time writing my songs", says Eivør. "Months, sometimes even years." But Hugsie Bert Um Teg/Still Just You is one of those songs that just came rushing out, as if it had been locked away somewhere inside of her, just waiting for the right key. My new Prophet-5 synthesizer had hardly made it out of the box before I hammered out the song's lighter-than-air melody, which dances like the colors of the milky way. When it finally arrived, I unwrapped it with all the restraint of a child at Christmas!"
OH HIROSHIMA - SECRET YOUTH
Swedish post-rock duo Oh Hiroshima are known for their dreamy take on music and their inherent ear for melody is writ large all over their new single Secret Youth, which geralds the impending arrival of the duo's fifth album, All Things Shining, due for release on June 28 via Berlin’s Pelagic Records. The band, brothers Jakob Hemström (singer and guitarist) and Oskar Nilsson (drummer), have added elements of krautrock, shoegaze, electronica and even post-punk to their sound on the new record.
"With a more traditional song structure and a more vocal-centric approach than most of our previous work, this was an interesting song for us to write and record," explains Hemström. "As with the previous single Wild Iris, the instant and the atmospheric walk side by side here. The lyrics deal with the naive radicalism of youth versus the distant reasoning of adulthood."
LOWEN - NAJANG BAH DIVHAYEH
London-based Lowen describe their music as "progressive Middle Eastern metal" and listening to the band's powerful new single, Najang Bah Divhayeh, out now on Church Road Records, they pretty much hit the nail on the head. Formed by Iranian-born Nina Saeidi (vocals) and Shem Lucas (guitar), the pair have since been joined by Cal Constantine (drums) and Richard Stevenson (live bass). The band are supporting Green Lung on their May dates - now that's a bill to savour.
"In the Persian book of Kings Mazandaran is a mythical realm populated by djinn, sorcerers and beautiful women who basked in riches," explains Saeidi. ":This realm of godless and invincible demons is referenced by even more ancient texts such as the Avesta, but it is in the Shahnameh that a King named Kay Kavus succumbs to greed and ill considered conquest to try and seize the wealth of Mazandaran.
""Najang Bah Divhayeh Mazandaran" is the warning that Kay Kavus receives before he sets off on his disastrous journey. It means: Do Not Go To War With The Demons Of Mazandaran. This single from the upcoming album references some of the details of this storied chapter of the Shahnameh, but with the classic sci-fi and poetic twist that Lowen bring with their progressive fusion of doom metal and Iranian music."
THE TWENTY COMMITTEE - EMBERS
The Twenty Committee hail from New Jersey and released their debut album A Lifeblood Psalm back in 2013. Since then vocalist and keyboard player Geoffrey Langley has also become the keyboard player with prog legends Renaissance. There's a suitably symphonic grandeur to the music The Twenty Committee also make, although with added grit - check out Justin Carlton's searing guitar solo on Embers.
The band's latest album, The Cycle Undone, was released last December and highlights the band's connections with prog royalty. "We have Annie Haslam on guest vocals, the record was mastered by Larry Fast of Synergy and Peter Gabriel (to name a few), and it was engineered by Jeff Bishop (Twenty Committee), Rave Tesar (Renaissance), and Bret Kull (Echolyn)," Langley tells us.
OUTRUN THE SUNLIGHT - ANIMAL
Chicago instrumental proggers Outrun The Sunlight return with Animal, their first new music since 2021's A Vast Field of Silence album (the quarttet re-recorded their 2011 debut album Return Of Inertia and released it as The Return Of Interia 2.0 back in 2022). The band have shed founding guitarist Cody McCarty since those days, but fellow six-string founding member Austin Peters is still at the helm, joined by Luke Angle (drums), Phil Kalas (bass), Kyle Kunkler (keys), and Ken Stebliy (guitar). Keep your eyes peeled for festival appearances around the world this summer.
"We're thrilled to present Animal, our first new music in three years," enthuses Peters. "This song will have more to follow, but more on that later... We had a blast self-producing this, and we can't wait to perform this song at select festivals in 2024!"
