open eyes the boy phoenix for avant

On chart. Listening

They make me think of a mix of the modern RIO sound (say Black Country, New Road and Lost Crowns), ‘80s King Crimson, and ‘70s Split Enz, all put into an electric blender, so that what comes out is a electric smoothie that’s a joy to listen to. There’s distinct math rock vibes (Aqua Mission, for example, reminds me a lot of Alarmist and their blend of jazz and math rock), and jazz licks.

Basically, they’re a bit poppy, which would normally mean Crossover here - but they’re too wacky for Crossover.

They’re progressive electronic, but on PA they don’t come close to the Berlin school, which seems to be a big barrier to overcome.

They’re math rock, but on PA - despite there being a supposedly Post Rock / Math Rock genre - math rock seems to be accepted only if there is a post rock element, which is bizarre, but then so is a lot of how PA works. So, despite obvious math rock tropes, without the post, this is unlikely to pass there, either.

They’re avant, but because they are poppy, that won’t matter here. I hear a heck of a lot RIO, and “Forget the Rest” pretty much sounds like RIO as played by newer bands like Lost Crowns, except in an electronic haze.

Good luck to this band, but I expect to see them either outrightly rejected immediately, or subject to being ping ponged between genre teams until they are rejected.

But thanks for bringing this band to my attention. I will definitely add this album to my prog collection. Thankfully, I don’t need PA to tell me what is or is not prog. 😄