CARDINGTON

A front page news: Galadriel's Calibrated Collision Course has laid a delayed egg. That studio album from 2008 was heavily criticized by special collaborators, prog reviewers and ordinary members (here at Prog Archives, on the respective page, you can see how it was criticized and how lowly it was rated). I nevertheless dared suppose that it could announce a new paradigm for prog music, and now, with the release of a new studio album from Lifesigns, I see that this may be true. The opening track, lapidary entitled N (sic!), shows the band's approach to building the relationships between musical sounds following... no, not Galadriel's 2008 prescriptions but Galadriel's 2008 algorithm for making up a prescription. It sounds very unusual and fresh.

Another possible musical analogy is, perhaps unexpectedly, Haken. Early Haken, not fussy and clamorous The Mountain or glum and insipid Affinity, but magnificent Aquarius and intricate Visions. According to most of sources, Haken is 'heavy prog' while Lifesigns is 'neo- prog', but Martin Orford hates the term 'neo-prog' not without reason. Sometimes strict definitions produce confusions, and there's no reason to pay too much attention to tags. I can find a number of musical parallels between N and, exempli gratia, The Point Of No Return (the opening track from Aquarius) in melody making and arrangement techniques.

But with the track two, Voice In My Head, any hints of Galadriel and Haken disappear, and - quel passage! - we hear another Telephone. Do you remember? It's the second track of the previous (self-titled) album from Lifesigns. Now, four years later, the band exploits the same structure: track one is epic, long and complex, while track two has simple melody and simple rhythm and sounds almost dance-like. Okay, okay. The next track, Chasing Rainbows, is an excellent short song in the vein of Pendragon, Jadis or IQ... and then - quelle surprise! - the third Telephone begins! Hey guys, maybe enough? (Just to be clear: I do like Telephone. I like it very much, it's one of my faves from the band's debut!) But no, far from enough, the next track is again a reincarnation of Telephone! And only the closing track, Cardington, restores the initial atmosphere, it's a long epic suite with a lot of innovative moments, and the shade of Calibrated Collision Course is again here.

So, the album includes two amazing, absolutely incomparable epics, one beautiful short song and four Telephones. That's why I am so base and spiteful to give it only four stars. Otherwise, if the entire album was sustained at the level of its opening and closing track, even a five-star rating would be too low for it.

One of the problems in living at the end of the world, is that unless one has enough money to purchase overseas magazines at exorbitant rates, or spends valuable reviewing time searching out new bands, then I can often be late when it comes to discovering acts. So this is why in 2019 I am reviewing the 2017 second album of a band who released their debut four years earlier. It is the project of John Young, a musician I have reviewed multiple times before in other bands (Greenslade, Qango etc), and it is only he and drummer Martin Beedle (Cutting Crew, and principle drummer for "Mamma Mia!") who made it through to the second. Here they have been joined by Dave Bainbridge (Iona and others, one of my favourite musicians) and Jon Poole (Cardiacs, The Wildhearts ? if you ever see a copy of his solo Zappa tribute album 'What's The Ugliest Part Of Your Body?' then grab it, it is brilliant). So even before putting this on I had very high hopes indeed.

I certainly wasn't disappointed. John is known as a side man of some repute (he is touring as part of Bonnie Tyler's band as I write this), but it is something of a surprise that he isn't more widely known in his own right and as this is a beautiful album, with very strong vocals. It is delicate, temporal, and far more in keeping with Dave's band than Jon's, with vocals at the front and centre with superb arrangements keeping everything moving. All these guys have been around, all know what they are doing, and have relaxed into an album that is a sheer delight from start to end. There are again some guest guitarists on the album in the likes of Robin Boult (Fish), Menno Gootjes (Focus) and Niko Tsonev, and their solos are used with care, providing additional nuances and dynamics when required. This is a very songs-based progressive rock album, and can be played repeatedly, and bring a smile to the face each and every time. The guys are all playing with each other and for each other, as opposed to showing off their musical skill and dexterity, which they all have in spades. The only advantage of coming across an album a few years after it was released is that hopefully it will soon be time for the next one! Please!

In await of the announced new release 'Altitude' I rather coincidentally came back to this album. Released in 2017, but more or less ignored by me (so far). What a nice production! Not sure if they are able to top such compositions (time will tell?). Actually mastermind and keyboarder John Young has worked for non prog artists more or less. But this is his project aiming to create progressive rock music with an accessible highly melodic signature. Hereby he has Iona co-founder and guitarist Dave Bainbridge at his side, as well as Cardiac Jon Poole on the bass, finally drummer Martin 'Frosty' Beedle. He once worked with Cutting Crew amongst others, and also convinces here all over the place.

'Cardington' comes like a very solid string made of compelling song pearls, without exception. Where the particular end each turns out to be a sonic highlight. Both songs are crossing the ten minute border, are also provided with a broader complex nature and more symphonic styled as the rest, which occasionally is going to tend to Art Pop Rock. John Young pulls the strings with his keyboards, furthermore provides a superb singing voice. 50 minutes of heartwarming rock music. A current comparism would lead to the Perfect Storm debut album No Air maybe. When you are underway preferring mellow accessible prog stuff this is a definite must have.

I bought the LP on their merch stall after seeing them live at Nene Valley Rock Festival, and it's become one of the more frequent albums I spin. As someone who listens to and generally finds new music through vinyl records, the majority of my collection is from the late 60's to the mid 80's, with the odd album from the following decades. I think that's part of why I love this album so much, because it's one of the few recent albums I own that is happy to be pure, complex symphonic prog. The gap in my knowledge of the recent decades of prog (and probably a lot the older stuff) may eschew my thoughts, but Lifesigns sound unlike any other band I've listened to. I can define certain instruments in some sections as similar to this or that, but as a whole the music always feels fresh despite a very 70's composition. The instrumentation and sounds that I don't recognise from other albums, I would almost describe as SEGA-like, maybe Phantasy Star? I might just be an idiot.

Stylistically, the music is generally sectioned, and most sections are revisited with changes, perhaps a different instrument on top or to add textures, or a change in the atmosphere they produce with the same motif. Odd time signatures are common, but rarely difficult. The sections switch between each other effortlessly and yet they are distinctly different, which is often just what I'm looking for when picking out an album and my hand reaches for Cardington. There isn't a track on the album that disappoints.

'N' is a strong opener that really encapsulates their style of progressive rock with lighter, ballad sections and heaver/ rockier sections, interspersed with lots of varying organ and synth sounds throughout the track. It's complex and it's wholly enjoyable to listen to, and you get lost in every section in a different way. A real auditory journey.

'Voice in my head' starts with some FX sounds before an ethereal synth and machine drums underpin the clear vocals. The bass then kicks in, thunderous and deep with a sound that wouldn't be out of place in a TOOL song, and despite this it is being used to back this light, ethereal section and it works perfectly. The contrasting synth and guitar trade off throughout the track as the tone shifts with each.

'Different' has lots of shifting sections with driving bass, hard rock, synths, keys and multiple time sigs. The emotive tones of each section flow between downbeat to uplifting as you soar along with the feeling of 'difference' we all experience as individuals; An experience only for the self, yet articulated musically, with feelings of unease and of comfort in oneself throughout the track. There are synth sounds that float around the mix, and lots of big instrumentation.

The introductory beat of 'Impossible' is quickly replaced by a paced, melodic rock section, underneath is a haunting synth just hiding in the mix. The guitar and vocals that ride together work in tandem beautifully. The second "Didn't see the signs were incomplete..." section uses a different instrumentation style to the rest of the track, with lighter keys and a sliding bass that create a pleasant tone together. The Gilmour-esque guitar solo is joined by some nice acoustic guitar chords before the climax of the song, which ends with a very Yes-like playout.

'Chasing Rainbows" begins with foreboding synth that plays under the ever clear and present vocals, with some of my favorite lyrics on the album. The track plays out with similar sections, where the same same theme in varying style, with an interesting chorus section a feverish acoustic guitar line.

The intro to 'Touch' is nice to follow, with some early Gabriel-sounding instrumentation. The song is then kicked up with a cool rising synth that leads in with the slick bass. The warbling synth emphasises the vocal sections. When they ask if you can feel the rhythm, you'll already know the answer.

The namesake of the album, 'Cardington' has a complex opening lead by the keys that is intriguing but remains bright and magical, matching the lyrics. The music is soaring and floating, and the lyrics are about flying; It just makes sense to do. Every section portrays the exact feeling that the accompanying lyrics wish to give, and it makes a wonderful piece that can remind you of the inquisitiveness and the joys of taking a flight (outbound, who likes coming home?). There's a strong, provoking section where acoustic guitar provides a mystifying, almost worrying feeling, followed by a beautiful section with uplifting, Hackett-like guitar work.

Cardington is a fantastic album and I would highly recommend it. It is the only album I have listened to by Lifesigns, but with that said I couldn't ever see myself giving less that 4 stars, and it is not far from 5.