The Tangent

In the twentieth year of the band's existence, The Tangent are pleased to announce their 12th studio album, Songs From The Hard Shoulder. This album sees The Tangent focusing almost entirely on their long format songs or "epics" with only one song being less than 16 minutes long. A very mature sounding record, the band have audibly focused on the compositional structure of this album which in the case of the three long pieces is also highly complex and "thought out". From a luscious and uplifting song about loneliness in Covid lockdown, to a full on 17-minute long jazz/prog/canterbury fusion instrumental, to a darkly electronic story of a homeless woman with shades of Nine Inch Nails, Po90, Japan and Van Der Graaf lurking within.

Addressing the effect that technological advances have had on society during the past 100 years, British prog rock outfit the Tangent's sixth studio album, Comm, shows that the band's ever-changing lineups haven't diluted their epic prog rock ambitions. Their first release since guitarist Luke Machin and drummer Tony Latham joined bassist Jonathan Barrett, saxophonist Theo Travis, and ever-present frontman Andy Tillison may only feature five tracks, but clocking in at nearly an hour, doesn't exactly suffer from a shortage of ideas. The cleverly titled opener, "The Wiki Man," is a sprawling 20-minute fusion of '70s proggy synths, vintage winding guitar solos, and dial-up modem bleeps, complete with several instrumental breakdowns, that highlights the pros and cons of the Internet age, while the equally lavish closer, "Titanic Calls Carpathia," is a 16-minute cinematic symphony…

Progressive rock, for the most part, has not been known for having a strong sense of humor. It was shaped, after all, by musicians who believed that if third stream jazz musicians could exalt Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, and Chopin as their idols, there was no reason why rock musicians shouldn't do the same. But Not as Good as the Book is a prog rock release that definitely has a sense of humor; in fact, humor is a vital part of this CD set. A highly conceptual effort, Not as Good as the Book is written from the perspective of aging baby boomers who lived to see the 21st century and are not happy with the ways in which the world has changed. Historically, most rock music - from punk to rockabilly to grunge - has been very youth-focused. But on this release, the Tangent offer the perspective of middle-aged boomers whose youthful idealism has been replaced by cynicism and pessimism - boomers who, back in the '60s and '70s…

The Tangent is a collaboration between British keyboardist and singer Andy Tillison and several moonlighting members of Sweden's Flower Kings. The band's overall sound is distinctly British, though, drawing heavily on the mystical Canterbury Scene of progressive rock and, equally heavily, on the sounds of 1970s jazz fusion. The world is divided into two kinds of people: those for whom this sounds like a description of heaven and those who would rather have their brains eaten by monkeys. Neither school will be surprised by anything on this album, which features dramatic vocals, inward-looking lyrics and lots of elegantly drawn-out guitar and keyboard solos, and on which the average track length is about 12 minutes.

For this project, members of the Flower Kings (guitarist Roine Stolt, bassist Jonas Reingold, and drummer Zoltan Csorsz) and one ex-member of Van der Graaf Generator (sax player David Jackson) team with the core of Parallel or 90 Degrees (singer/keyboardist Andy Tillison, guitarist Guy Manning, and keyboardist Sam Baine), hence the name of the group. Parallel, tangent – take a few seconds to figure it out. Stolt and Tillison share an undisputable love for old-school symphonic prog rock and epic songs. They indulge in both here. "In Darkest Dreams" is the main course, an eight-part, 20-minute suite that adds some of the Flower Kings' bright colors to Po90s usually darker (VDGG-esque) delivery.

In the twentieth year of the band's existence, The Tangent are pleased to announce their 12th studio album, Songs From The Hard Shoulder. This album sees The Tangent focusing almost entirely on their long format songs or "epics" with only one song being less than 16 minutes long. A very mature sounding record, the band have audibly focused on the compositional structure of this album which in the case of the three long pieces is also highly complex and "thought out". From a luscious and uplifting song about loneliness in Covid lockdown, to a full on 17-minute long jazz/prog/canterbury fusion instrumental, to a darkly electronic story of a homeless woman with shades of Nine Inch Nails, Po90, Japan and Van Der Graaf lurking within. The album's final track is the 4 minute bouncy Motown-style track "Wasted Soul", where the band anticipate a wonderful day in the future when the pandemic is over forever. Early editions and the Vinyl Edition will include the bonus track "In The Dead Of Night" which is of course a cover version of the classic song by UK.