Prog

Discovering The Summer’s End Festival is the UK’s longest-running progressive rock festival and one of the most enduring events of its type in the world. It was founded in 2005 by Huw Lloyd-Jones, with Stephen Lambe joining in 2006, a partnership that has endured for 18 years. Beginning in Gloucester, the event spent two years in Bilston before a lengthy stint in Lydney. It’s now been at its current home in Chepstow for 10 years The 2024 edition, the festival’s 19th, will include headline sets by Moon Safari from Sweden, Magic Pie from Norway and Cyan from the UK. It will also see the return of Guy Manning, plus performances from Rosalie Cunningham and Hayley Griffiths and their bands. The organisers are also delighted to welcome Coma Rossi from India…

Hello and welcome to the latest issue of Prog. As he approaches 80, Jon Anderson has released an absolute gem of an album in True. Given that he nearly died back in 2008, we’re lucky to have this great survivor with us, still creating amazing music and performing live. Stephen Lambe explores the creation of the new album, the new lease of life that working with The Band Geeks has given Anderson of late, and finds out what the future holds for this remarkable musician. You can read Stephen’s excellent piece on p28. Elsewhere in another packed issue of Prog, IQ guitarist Mike Holmes looks back over the last 40 years of making music; Alan Parsons recalls the making of 1978’s Pyramid album; Leprous discuss the new approach they took to…

GREAT LENGTHS I’ve been enjoying watching the Paris Olympics on TV, but there’s one thing I didn’t understand: why on Earth didn’t anyone think of booking Jean-Michel Jarre for the closing ceremony? He could even have brought his own fireworks. Stu Harper, Coventry THE POWER OF OXYGÈNE Surely I can’t be the only one wondering why Jean-Michel Jarre didn’t perform at the Paris Olympics closing ceremony? Not only is he one of France’s most famous musical artists, but his incredible stage show would have really sent things off with a bang. I heard the excellent Équinoxe played a few times, but why wasn’t he there to play it in person? Jarre would have added a real air of celebration to the proceedings. Or maybe even Magma – now that really…

Opeth broke the internet when they released the track §1, last month. It was their first new music featuring growled vocals in 16 years, but their bandleader has distanced himself from suggestions that The Last Will & Testament is death metal record. Releasing on October 11 through Moderbolaget/Reigning Phoenix Music, their 14th LP represents a melding of their earlier aggression with vintage prog. “If you take those vocals away, it’s no big stretch,” says guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt. “I think this album is slightly heavier; it’s much darker and evil, but I think they’re the only thing that could keep the prog guys away from this record. The rest is business as usual. To be honest, my heart is not in death metal. I’m after some kind of feeling. Music should…

Beardfish singer-guitarist Rikard Sjöblom has credited the passing, the luxury and the pressure of time in the creation of the reunited Swedish proggers’ new album, Songs For Beating Hearts, which is released via InsideOutMusic on November 1. It’s their first album of original music since they split in 2016. “We all missed each other terribly,” he says of the years Beardfish spent apart from each other. “We all missed playing with each other. And most of all, we missed hanging out. We’re like brothers and, basically, this band is a family.” He continues, “I’d started writing these new songs that immediately started to feel like, ‘These sound like Beardfish.’ Then, a couple of years back, we started talking. We met up and played some old tunes and it felt really…

France’s Klone have announced the release of their 10th full-length album. The Unseen is out via Berlin’s celebrated Pelagic Records of November 8. It’s the follow-up to 2023’s acclaimed Meanwhile. Heralding The Unseen is the single Interlaced, which is available to stream on all major platforms now. Speaking of the track, vocalist Yann Ligner said, “Interlaced opens the album, introducing several new facets of our sound and establishing tones and themes that continue throughout The Unseen. The lyrics of Interlaced describe those moments that take us back to our youth, those situations that, through play, allow us to rediscover our childlike soul.” He adds, “A daring new journey through a singular and contrasting soundscape, The Unseen is an immersive and dreamy experience that pushes Klone’s sublime sound to new masterful…