On The Tangent’s 14th album To Follow Polaris, Andy Tillison has embarked on a “one-off” solo adventure that tackles self-doubt and finds him going on a quest for the truth. Prog catches up with the multi-instrumentalist as he ponders whether we’re better off without the internet and considers if he’s still optimistic in a world full of turmoil.
One of the most reliable and prolific prog bands of the 21st century, The Tangent are nothing if not adaptable. Two years after Songs From The Hard Shoulder the revered veterans released To Follow Polaris, a record with a significant difference.
Defying the odds and proving himself to be an even more talented man than his many past achievements might suggest, founder and songwriter Andy Tillison created the entire album without any help from his bandmates. Dedicated fans shouldn’t panic, however, as the keyboard wizard hasn’t fallen out with his fellow musicians. He just couldn’t get them all in the same room to bring his new songs to life – so he did it all himself.
As he tells Prog, To Follow Polaris is the product of circumstance; specifically, the fact that his colleagues are so talented that they’re nearly always in demand by other bands, including Steve Hackett’s touring troupe for bassist Jonas Reingold and Karnataka for guitarist Luke Machin.
“I’ve never been quite sure why it happened this way,” Tillison laughs. “I’ve had some really great musicians in my project over the years; they’ve all been so keen and generally amazing, and I feel very lucky. And of course they’re in demand! I’m certainly not one to stop them going out and earning some money, so there’s no animosity towards that at all.
“This whole thing of making an album alone has nothing to do with any dissatisfaction on my part. I love working in a band and I particularly like the guys that are in the group at the moment. So this is a one-off experiment, really – it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”
He’s eager to point out that To Follow Polaris is still a Tangent album and not some indulgent solo venture. At 75 minutes long and full of the sprawling, intricate epics that have been the band’s trademark over the last 22 years, it fits neatly into their catalogue. More importantly, it keeps the creative ball rolling for a man that seems incapable of not writing a lavish double album every couple of years.
“I did consider putting it out as a solo artist,” he says, “but if I was going to be doing a solo album, I’d like to do something that wasn’t a Tangent record. The records I do release under my own name are more jazz fusion, or in a Tangerine Dream or Klaus Schulze mode. It’s a very small part of my career. The brand name that I work with is The Tangent and this is definitely in that mould. I talked to the rest of the band and said, ‘Can I do this?’ and they said, ‘Of course!’ and they were very supportive.”
Fans have grown accustomed to very high standards of musicianship over the past 20 years, from the current line-up and the numerous incarnations that have preceded it. No fewer than 30 former members are listed on the band’s Wikipedia page, many of them significant figures in their own right. As a result, Tillison’s decision to play everything himself presented a number of fresh challenges.
It was a really exhilarating experience, but I also had to factor in that there was a lot of loneliness and self-doubt going on
“I write an album for The Tangent, and then we reach the point where we usually hand off to the group, and they put their mark on it,” he says. “I had that moment with this album as well. There came this point where, once I’d done the keyboard demos, I had to hand things off to me as a bassist, as a guitarist and as a drummer. One of the things I’m quite good at is what I see as musical method acting; I try to become the guitarist. It’s not just me picking up a guitar and playing. I start to take on the mentality of a guitarist: what would a guitarist do here, and what do I want to do here as the guitarist rather than the composer? It’s a different way of doing it but I really enjoyed it.”
Despite working without bandmates, he reports that there were a few moments of friction. “I often joke that during the whole process, the bassist and the drummer fell out with each other!” he chuckles. “In a way it’s true, because parts of me as a bass player were really struggling with what me as the drummer was doing, like, ‘Fucking hell, why didn’t he do that right?’
“But despite working without Jonas, Luke and Steve [Roberts, drummer], I still feel they were there. Everything about the way Jonas plays the bass was the way I wanted to play it, for example. So I’ve learned what the other guys do in the band, and I’m sure it’ll help when we get together to make the next one.”
Tillison does admit that spending many months in the studio with no one to act as a sounding board was a recipe for stir craziness. At the very least, the experience led him through periods of acute self-reflection. “It was a really exhilarating experience, but I also had to factor in that there was a lot of loneliness and self-doubt going on,” he says. “I was thinking, ‘Will anybody care? Will anyone like this? Will people think it’s crap because the rest of the band aren’t on it?’ I’m sure there will be some people who say that – but will it please the majority of Tangent fans? That remains to be seen. I’ll either be bombarded with hate mail or it’ll be a thumbs-up.”
I’m suggesting that we can overcome it all by focusing on things that we all can agree are true. I’m optimistic but realistic
He needn’t worry. To Follow Polaris is a dazzling, multifaceted addition to The Tangent’s sturdy catalogue – and maybe even one of the most absorbing and celebratory records Tillison has made. As ever, his lyrics run the gamut from out-and-out positivity to cautious cynicism, with songs like The North Sky and A ‘Like’ In The Darkness presenting his thoughts on just about everything, and in the most vivid and inventive of musical contexts. As he says, he’s not immune from the world’s woes; but neither is he prepared to succumb to a despairing view of the world around us.
“Polaris is very symbolic, the North Star,” he says. “It’s totally indisputable – it doesn’t even matter if you’re a flat-earther, you can’t deny that the North Star is true and real. The album is very much about searching for truth in a world where we’re losing track of it. I’m suggesting that, despite all the lies, deceit, conniving and the general ranting and arguing that goes on all over social media and the internet, we can overcome it all by focusing on things that we all can agree are true. I’m optimistic but realistic!”
How does he manage to stay buoyant during such dark and divided times? “I fall into a very interesting generation, who lived the first half of our lives without the internet, and the second half with it,” he reflects. “Very soon there will only be people who lived with it from birth, and don’t know how things were before. Sometimes I ask myself, ‘Is it better now or isn’t it?’ In general, I think the answer is that it’s better now.
“I wouldn’t be talking to you now and The Tangent wouldn’t have happened without the internet, so it’s capable of really positive things for people. But it does have a big downside to it. Slowly but surely, we’re losing the spark of truth. A lot of the lyrics on this album are a plea to just keep your eyes open for the true things.”
What will this little riff that I’m churning out somewhere on the Yorkshire Moors mean to anybody? What will it actually do?
To Follow Polaris is the most introspective record Tillison has made in a long time. For example, A ‘Like’ In The Darkness dares to ask whether the act of making a prog rock record in 2024 will actually have any impact on the wider world. The conclusion seems to be a tentative, “Yes, why not?” and a plea to appreciate the value of the music, no matter how far from mainstream attention it might dwell.
“That song is about the loneliness I felt making the record, when there was no input from anybody and no contact, and you’re just working and working,” Tillison says. “Sometimes it’s late at night, and I can see sheep out of the studio window. I can see the light from my room going out across the field and I think, ‘What is this little light going to mean?
“‘What will this little riff that I’m churning out right now, on this night in a dark farmhouse, somewhere on the Yorkshire Moors, mean to anybody? What will it actually do?’ I know there’s a positive answer to that. Music is
a spiritual thing that can lift people, and it doesn’t matter how many people it lifts. I don’t have to be Taylor Swift, I just need to be able to talk to a few people who enjoy what I have to say.”
The Anachronism is criticism of way politics in general works, but it plays out on this gloriously optimistic end section
His outlook shines through when it matters most, not least on 21-minute colossus The Anachronism. A song that takes aim at authoritarianism and the duplicitous amorality of rogue governments and corrupt politicians, it ends on an irresistibly upbeat note that beautifully sums up the hopefulness and humanity that have driven The Tangent from the start.
“I think these are the most difficult times that I’ve lived through,” says Tillison. “We’ve got a war on our doorstep. Fear is growing in many people’s heads. The Anachronism is many minutes of criticism of autocracy, theocracies, Putin, and the whole way politics in general works, but it plays out on this gloriously optimistic end section. It’s a big finale that looks towards the North Star, as we ride off into the sunset – because, in the end, what else can you do?”
