STRANGER HEADS PREVAIL

I first encountered Thank You Scientist when they were opening for Haken in Glendale, CA. I'd never heard of them, despite their growing acclaim. Their set is one of the best shows I've seen and going into it blind was an incredible experience. This review isn't about their set though, it's about the album, so I'll move along to that.

The standout quality to Stranger Heads Prevail, and all of TYS's music is something I find severely lacking from the modern progressive scene. Their music is fun, especially so on this album. We've seemed to have become so hostile to the idea of accidentally making a catchy tune, that musicians will try to avoid it at all costs. Steven Wilson even jokes about this when discussing the track "Sound of Muzak".

On Stranger Heads Prevail, TYS maintains a complex and dynamic sound that utilizes every bit of their seven piece band, but doesn't bog itself down trying to be overly meaningful or deep. In a seven piece it's easy for instruments to begin getting lost in the mix, not so in this case. Each instrument has its time in the forefront leading the melody and then phases back into harmonies in a way that flows wonderfully through each track. I must admit a certain bias as trumpet player myself, the inclusion of lots of clean and technical trumpet definitely makes it easy for me to love this music, but lets be fair, the music is just generally easy to love.

While it doesn't have the unbelievably complexity of much of modern progressive rock, I still think that Stranger Heads is one of the highlights of 2016 in progressive rock. A move back to music for the masses without sacrificing their progressive core.