PAST THE EVENING SUN

The retro prog scene has really picked up in recent years with some bands eerily emulating the past masters with uncanny impeccability with bands like Wobbler and All Traps On Earth mysteriously weaving the distant past into the present with great success. Add one more band obsessed with the early years of prog, RING VAN MÖBIUS from the extreme west coast of Norway in the municipality of Karmøy south of Bergen. What is it with Scandinavia's obsession with prog's golden years? The band claims to play progressive rock straight out of 1971 but made today and it appears that the classic Van Der Graaf Generator album "Pawn Hearts" is the primary targeted inspiration for their debut album PAST THE EVENING SUN.

This band is basically a power trio that in staying true to the era, utilized only analog equipment that adds a sense of veracity to their claim. Thor Erik Helgesen may not don a magic hammer of the gods but he cranks out the Hammond L100, Fender Rhodes, Clavinet D6, Moog Satellite and Korg MS20. Thor is also the vocalist. Håvard Rasmussen plays bass and Dag Olav Husås is the percussionist. While not officially a band member Karl Christian Grønhaug appears on much of the album as an unofficial fourth member with healthy doses of saxophone squawks and jazzy touches. Yes, the Van Der Graaf Generator signs are strong and it doesn't get any more "Pawn Hearts" than an album claiming to be from 1971 that has three long tracks that clock in at around 22 minutes, 6 minutes and 12 minutes. Oh, and the total absence of the guitar can only bring forth more comparisons.

All this basic obsession with VDGG would seem that this album could be the perfect train wreck of wannabeism run amok, but despite the perfect tailoring to fit the 1971 timeline complete with an album run time of 39:28, a complete dedication to period piece analog equipment and recording techniques and a healthy dose of respect for those who existed in that year the band does muster up its own unique sound that sort of occupies the cracks between the bigwigs of the day. While VDGG worship provides the lion's share of ideas, so too do the following: King Crimson's "In The Court Of King Crimson", Emerson, Lake and Palmer's debut album's keyboard heft, Atomic Rooster's more experimental moments and healthy doses of early pastoral symphonic prog that only Genesis could conjure up on albums like "Nursery Crime." PAST THE EVENING SUN could very easily have just been called "The 1971 Album" and been done with it, but the band seems to prefer to remain slightly mysterious having released little info about themselves and allowing the listener to decipher where this band would fit into the scheme of things had it really emerged in that year.

While the song lengths are similar to "Pawn Hearts," the tracks are in reverse order with the longest, the title track which is made up of six mini-suites, appearing first and the second longest appearing last. Only the shortest connecting track remains in the middle. And while all these comparisons may evoke a sense of "how could they?," the truth is that in the end PAST THE EVENING SUN does not exactly sound like any of the bands of their inspiration despite the obviously elements of the era finding a modern day retro rendition with the exception of some notable moments such as around the five minute mark of "Chasing The Horizon" that clearly borrows that funky hyperactive keyboard segment from "Man-Erg." However, one thing that stands out after a single listen to PAST THE EVENING SUN is that this album lacks any rock sizzle and floats by in a dream state. It seems like it never really jumps into overdrive and remains a mid-tempo pastoral time capsule for its entire run.

So with all the most sublime influences delivered to the world in 1971 by the gods, this must be the best retro album of all prog existence, right? Well, unfortunately i cannot say that it is. While the band took the time to check off all the proper boxes to ensure a proper tribute to their golden year of choice, somehow they forgot to craft memorable songs with outstanding instrumental performances. First of all, while Thor Helgesen is clearly trying to evoke Peter Hammill as his time period vocalist of choice, he completely lacks Hammill's dynamic vocal style and overall charisma. With the lack of the dynamism of strong vocal led melodic deliveries, the instrumental interplay seems lackluster despite the wide range of atmospheric textures, time signature rich meanderings and period piece timbres that nail all the keyboard variations, Fender bass techniques and jazzy saxophone squawks. In the end the album comes off with all the Van Der Graaf Generator expectations but ultimately delivers Rare Bird results and by evoking all the top dogs of the day, ultimately let's me down as it fails to reach such lofty goals.

So in the end PAST THE EVENING SUN doesn't even come close to capturing the psychedelic progressive mind trip that "Pawn Hearts" was and remains to be as it approaches a half century in existence but this adventurous debut album isn't exactly horrible either. It does succeed in displaying the band's knack for reinterpreting the past in a modern day context and although i don't find this debut album quite works on all levels, it signifies that with a few more attempts at the drawing board and a bit more variety in their dynamics and compositional fortitude that the band could emerge a few years down the road as the next Wobbler or All Traps On Earth who for the most part made it sound easy to replicate the sounds of yore and translate them into the modern era. While not achieving the desired result, RING VAN MÖBIUS remains a band to keep your eyes gazed upon because there's certainly a masterpiece waiting to emerge from this ambitious troop of all things retro prog but only after going back to the drawing board and ironing out the kinks that are keeping this album from standing up on its own terms.

3.5 stars rounded down

Ring Van Möbius is one of the many new Norwegian retro-prog bands, a category that has been becoming more prevalent in many prog rock rankings and end-of-the-year-lists. Much like other similar acts (like Wobbler or Arabs in Aspic), RVM showcase a strong affinity for 70s classic prog, more specifically Pawn Hearts-era VdGG or early ELP. And they do like to wear their influences on their sleeves!

'Past the Evening Sun' is the band's first proper studio album, released in 2018, featuring the core three members playing respectively keys, drums, and bass guitar, with a guest player on the saxophone, a key instrument in this album. And much like the two classic 70s bands mentioned above, RVM do not use any guitars, which is cool! The record opens up with the nearly 22-minute multi-part epic 'Past the Evening Sun', a rampant exploration of the band members' Van der Graaf Generator lucid dreams, incorporating some hypnotic psych-prog patterns, with a tasty and memorable main riff that could have easily served as the main album theme. Unfortunately, this main riff is only used here. Next up is the shorter track 'End of Greatness', a more mellow and less explosive piece that once again strongly reminisces something like 'After the Flood' or 'Take a Pebble'. Finally, there is the 12-minute composition of 'Chasing the Horizon', a psychedelic trip that tries to recapture the spark of the main album piece, the title track, but turns out to be much more forgettable.

The album is good but it's nothing like the records serving as its blueprint. The vocals I would not highlight as particularly strong, while the keyboard works and the sax parts are especially tasty, most often in track one. The band follows the example of many other contemporary artists of trying to entirely imitate some classic retro bands, but the end results are rarely too exciting because many of these bands get lost in the exercise, and hardly manage to present their own musical personality. Unlike acts like The Flower Kings or Spock's Beard, to give examples of bands that have a distinct personality despite the music they play. A fine album, well played and nicely composed, but nothing too special by today's standards.