Progetto Monarch

Canadian stalwart prog artist Ken Baird returns with a second Monarch Trail album, on the heels of 'Skye', a much vaunted debut that signaled a new route for the up-to-then solo multi-instrumentalist. It must be stated once again that there are musicians out there who have a level of musical education and a personal style that aims at artistic purity (aka lack of commercialism), charming the unsuspecting listener to be wooed and charmed by the proceedings. Throughout Ken Baird's solo career from 1996 to 2009, the confirmation of a special and unique sound encompassed 5 great albums that still enjoy great appeal to me as a prog collector.

Mostly known for his works as a solo artist, Canadian keyboardist and composer Ken Baird would expand his activities after no less than five solo albums and come up with the trio of Monarch Trail, a project formed out of the need of Baird to produce music in a more teamwork status.Bassist Dino Verginella and drummer Chris Lamont, who completed the line-up, were both featured in Baird's previous albums. As guitars were also part of Monarch Trail's compositions, they were helped during the sessions of their debut by John Mamone, Kelly Kereliuk and Steve Cochrane.The first work of the band ''Skye'' was partly inspired by the drawings of Annette Roche, so naturally some of them became part of the album's artwork, a record eventually released in April 2014 and based on the principles of the Neo Prog/Symphonic Rock genres.

The third installment from Canada's Monarch Trail marks perhaps their strongest album todate. With music as majestic as the cover art , this band really pull out a beauty here on Wither Down! Ken Baird, the architect behind Monarch Trail, has hit the jackpot here with six classic symphonic prog tunes, the longest track alone "Megalopolitana" is some 15 minutes and musically stunning. Dino Verginella and Chris Lamont lay down some solid prog chops along the journey and adding in a few guest guitarists too (Steve Cochrane and Kelly Kereliuk). If you are a fan of IQ, Marillion, Mike Oldfield and in general symphonic rock, then Wither Down may just be your next album to purchase!

The initial inspiration for this project came to me while I was writing a monograph on Schönberg’s “Verklärte Nacht”, Il labirinto e l’intrico dei viottoli [The Labyrinth and the Tangle of Pathways]. Schönberg, like Mahler, was attuned to the relationship between music and venues for music, and in my research, I discovered that Mahler was particularly concerned with the chamber-music aspect of his own Lieder from the Wunderhorn collection. He had even conducted some of them in what was then known as the Small Hall of Vienna’s Musikverein (now Brahms Hall), a space only suitable for a chamber orchestra—too small for the ensemble required for some of these Lieder. I consequently wondered about the kind of adaptation Mahler had made for that performance, while I was already considering undertaking a similar operation myself.