ENGLISH GHOSTS

Wednesday August the 5th 2009, 7.15pm BST, a small hotel in Bridgwater U.K. - after a long and tiring journey, I put down my case and take out the free CD from my just-purchased copy of British music magazine "Classic Rock Presents Prog". I place it in the DVD slot of the Digital TV in the corner of the room, press 'play' and the familiar and comforting sound of Pendragon's "Indigo" tell me that all is well with the world again. I unpack the few possessions I have brought along for the trip, make a phone call, and then put the kettle on for a much needed drink to settle down and relax with.

I pour the water into the teapot just as the Pendragon track is coming to an end, walk across the room and pick up a cup from the tray on the dressing table. As I turn, the first few chords of the second track on the CD engulf me...and I stop.

Be it sixth sense or whatever, there are moments in almost everyone's life when they just know that something special is about to happen. I put down the cup again and just sit perfectly still on the bed - this is not background music I am hearing, this is something that needs to be listened to, and I do...once, twice, three times before I let the player move on to the next track. That particular brew never made it into the cup, and a drink no longer seemed important to me at all. The chord progressions that are featured in this song are amongst the most expressive I have ever heard, and the same can be said of the lyrics - linking the ageing process to things from the natural world in an interpretation of life's journey from the cradle to the grave.

I read in the magazine that the track is by a band I had never heard of called Konchordat, and that the album it comes from is named "English Ghosts" so as soon as I get home a few days later I frantically search the Internet for a source of this CD so that I can hear more, only to find that unforeseen production problems are going to mean an indeterminate delay in its release, and it doesn't ultimately see the light of day until November 2009. At a couple of minutes over the hour, this is a generous offering for a debut CD - but the time soon passes, as the music oozes quality right from the outset, and the long frustrating wait to explore the rest of this band's catalogue of songs certainly seems well worth it now.

It is difficult to pigeonhole Konchordat's music- yes, there are certainly aspects of neo-prog here, but influences seem many and varied - a hint of Camel here, a snatch of Genesis there - Konchordat appear to have skilfully captured desirable elements from a whole host of established prog bands and blended them into a style that is all their own. The music is both atmospheric and melodic, with plenty of quiet reflective passages, but powerful symphonic overtones are never far from the surface. The lyrics are deep and meaningful too, sung with real passion, yet without the vocal acrobatics that can sometimes detract from the impact of complex pieces of music such as those featured here.

The album begins with a short instrumental, aptly called "Prelude", which segues into the first of 6 songs all about various aspects of Humanity, and climaxing with a slightly longer and quite up-tempo instrumental called (again rather aptly) "Coda". Keyboards dominate the proceedings throughout, but where the guitar is brought to the fore, it is done with some considerable expression, very reminiscent of Nick Barrett of the aforementioned Pendragon!

The title track "English Ghosts" is indeed an epic. Although it is officially split into 3 parts, they are presented as a single piece of music almost 20 minutes long. The third track, "Consequences" clocks in at over 11 minutes, and the wonderfully emotive "Motion" almost 8 minutes - these are songs of quite some substance, and the closing instrumental "Coda" is a truly exquisite amalgam of Styx at their finest combined with what could easily be taken as an extension of Genesis's "Second Home By The Sea". Marvellous Stuff!

I have been listening to progressive rock since the late sixties, and have heard all sorts in that time. It must be said , even when placed alongside some of the real masterpieces of yesteryear, I really like this album a lot. Prog has had its ups and downs over time but has thankfully enjoyed a real renaissance over the last decade or so, and with bands like Konchordat emerging, producing albums like "English Ghosts", the future looks set fair for some considerable time to come.

We are told to try not to award 5 stars when reviewing an album on Progarchives - I suppose nothing is truly perfect after all, but this comes mighty close as far as I am concerned, close enough to make no difference, so in essence 5 stars it is - unreservedly! There ought to be interemediate ratings so that we can give 4.8 or 4.9 to albums as good as this. Sadly we can't, so it has to be a 4, I guess, to keep everyone happy - but that really doesn't do it justice.

Bring on the follow-up!!