NOSTALGIA FOR INFINITY

After being impressed with last year's "Ark" EP and receiving a nice "thank you" from the band, I have been looking forward to a new full album release from "Hats Off Gentlemen It's Adequate", and in February of 2020, they have released the digital version of their album "Nostalgia for Infinity" (the physical CD will be released in May). This album boasts a total of 12 tracks and a total run time of almost 70 minutes. The duo of Malcolm Galloway (vocals, guitar, keyboards, synths, and programming) and Mark Gatland (bass, guitars, keyboards, synths, Chapman stick) is joined by one of their returning regular musicians Kathryn Thomas (flute, vocals). Two of the three tracks that were on 2019's EP show up on this album, namely "Ark" and "Chasing Neon", so if those tracks are any indication, this album is already pointing in a positive direction.

According to the Bandcamp page, the album has a loose concept in at least 7 of the tracks that were inspired by science fiction author and astrophysicist Alastair Reynolds with other tracks relating to nanotechnology, World War II, and environmental destruction, basically different perspectives dealing with the frailty of civilization.

"Century Rain" (9:17) starts things off with a classical music feel bringing in the flute and then becoming cinematic with layers of synth and guitar building up a nice sweeping feeling. This builds a foundation for vocals and well-written lyrics. After two verses, guitar and flute create a nice atmosphere, and soon a synth heavy solo also brings in an up tempo rhythm and soon vocals start again repeating the chorus, and then an extended instrumental ending flows along nicely to the end, still featuring plenty of lovely flute, synth layers and guitars with a moderate beat and a symphonic attitude. "Twin Earth" (5:59) continues with the same style, but more of a rock edge than before. There is more of the flute on this one, and again the lyrics are well written bringing in the progressive feel to match the words. Strong synths drive the last 4 minutes of the track which is all instrumental which features some nice playful interchange with the keys and flute, piano flourishes and moderately fast beat.

"Ark" (11:47) is the instrumental centerpiece from last year's EP and following is a description that I wrote in the review for the EP. "This track is inspired by Malcolm's grandfather's (Richard Galloway) WWII flight logs. Richard served on the aircraft carrier known as the Ark Royal which has an interesting history, including taking part in the sinking of the Bismark. The music specifically relates to incidents as it plays, the description of which is on the band's Bandcamp site (under the listing for the EP) for those that are interested. It does make everything interesting to follow along. The track is dedicated to Richard and those that fought against the Nazis. Malcolm plays everything on this track except for bass (played by Mark). A light, meandering section starts off the track mostly made up of keyboards and light guitar. Synths bring in a orchestral feeling and a very nice guitar plays over a beautiful twinkling piano background and the rhythm is nice and smooth giving the impression of smooth sailing. The music becomes tenser and darker at 3 minutes signifying preparation for confronting the enemy and is driven by synths and keys. At 5 minutes, the music becomes dramatic signifying the confrontation of a U-boat, which proved the vulnerability of the aircraft carrier, but it eventually sunk by a separate war ship. The music quiets down leaving just keys and light guitar work, but remaining tense as the hunt for The Bismark begins. At 8 minutes, the guitar brings back in full instrumentation for a climactic section. The Bismark is sunk, but the last section represents the sinking of the aircraft carrier. After nine minutes, the music becomes soft and twinkling again and ends beautifully." It's a progressive masterpiece with symphonic prog leanings inspired by classical music compositional style, a mini soundtrack for the mind.

"Nanobotoma" (5:34) goes for a harder, rock edge, more in a straightforward way, but with excellent, complex lyrics that are easy to understand with Malcolm's clear delivery. He may not have the best voice, but it serves the purpose by accenting the words clearly. This track also features a nice guitar solo. "Chasing Neon" (5:34) appeared on the "Ark" EP. Again I'll use my review of that EP for this track. The instrumental "is composed by Malcolm, but he only plays keys and synths while Mark takes over on guitar and also plays bass. It begins softly with synths, but soon a funky synth comes in and a steady percussion pushes it quickly forward. The synths establish a melodic, repeating pattern, and then the guitar comes in creating a darker atmosphere while the beat continues. The instrumental is quite straightforward, but it is still pretty good."

"Glitterband" (5:32) takes on a darker feel as it deals with an apocalyptic theme, again the lyrics are excellent, the vocals are more dramatic on this track. A keyboard riff carries it all forward supported by minimal guitar, a solid beat and bass line, the music flows along easily, but with a more morose and dramatic atmopshere. "Conjoiners" (4:31) is a spooky and atmospheric instrumental. A slow synth melody comes in later, but the music keeps on the dark and ambient side of things. Using electronics and synths, the music builds a bit as it continues, swirling around and then slowing down again at the end. "Scorpio" (1:19) is an even darker track, much heavier and dramatic, a short and concise statement that throws in some dissonant jazz towards the end. This track could have developed into an interesting idea, but is over too quickly. "Inhibitors" (3:25) goes into an experimental mode with great effects that also utilize the flute. Dark and foreboding, it still has some intriguing atmosphere that makes things mysterious and plays with the boundaries approaching avant garde style.

The title track "Nostalgia for Infinity" (6:59) features Kathryn doing the vocals in an echoing, spoken word style. A moderate beat takes off bringing along swirling synth riffs and melody as this continues. Soon the beat ends and the music gets atmospheric and dark again and her vocals become songlike and wordless, the beat comes back in and her lovely flute takes over. Very nice. Just before the 4 minute mark, Malcolm begins singing and finally establishing the melody. This is definitely one of the stronger tracks of the album, with Malcolm letting loose in his vocal expression. "Voyager" (5:50) is another nice instrumental, this time featuring some beautiful guitar with nice support from the flute and synths. Later, the synth also gets a solo. The melody on this one is quite lovely and heartfelt. The album ends with "Sixth Extinction" (4:06), a fast paced track with a surprsingly heavy riff and frantic vocals. Again, the strength in in the lyrics more than the vocal ability, but its all good because the lyrics are easy to understand.

This album does a great job of showing the versatility of the band and also has a great mix of vocals and instrumentals. There are some definate highlights in this album, namely "Ark", "Conjoiners", "Nostalgia for Infinity", "Voyager" and "Century Rain". The other tracks also are quite good and will keep your interest as you listen to the entire album. The music goes quite smoothly into different styles, but is still cohesive as it explores symphonic styles, ambient and experimental sections, electronic music and a few tracks that are relatively straightforward. The vocals are okay, but the lyrics are excellent. The musicianship is wonderful, though I wish I could have heard more of the jazz fusion side that they hint at in "Scorpio". The use of the flute in many of the tracks is also a big plus, yet it never wears out its welcome as it appears in various places throughout the album, giving it all the right amount of depth. All in all, this is a very enjoyable album even if it doesn't get heavily progressive, there is still a great amount of progressive traits to the music, especially in the classically influenced tracks and the ones that lean more toward the symphonic style. The album does still pique my interest as I look forward to where this band can go. This is one that should not be ignored, though some will really love it while others may like to hear more experimentation. It's hard to please everyone, but I know this album pleases me. There are masterpieces in this album for sure and that is what keeps my interest in the band, but overall it comes out as a 4 star effort with high recommendations.

Hats Off Gentlemen it's Adequate are nothing if not consistent. There has been a hefty release every year since 2017's excellent Broken but Still Standing with the odd single thrown in and though 2019's Ark EP was only available in digital format, in answer to a question I posed to Malcolm Galloway at their gig in September 2019, two of the three tracks have made it onto this year's Nostalgia for Infinity. The HOGIA brand is heralded by their instantly recognisable font and a well-chosen cover photo, this time A Sense of Emptiness by Mrs White Photoart. It's also good to know that the source material on the latest release continues to be mined from science fiction, future-tech and AI.

The album title comes from the name of a spaceship in Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space novels, prompting some philosophical musing whereby each of our present choices narrows the range of possible futures or, put another way, the future of the past is closer to infinity than it ever will be again.

The opening two tracks Century Rain and Twin Earth are inspired by Reynolds' writing and thanks to Kathryn Thomas' flute they're firmly in the prog camp rather than the post-rock of 2018's Out of Mind. They form a nice pairing and could be two subsections of a single song (in the same way that Yes' Future Times and Rejoice are really two parts of one song) and are cleverly built up in layers with flute soaring over nice keyboard lines. These songs represent a future path best closed off, as the protagonist in Reynolds' story and narrator of the songs is living in an alternate 1950s Paris where the German invasion of France failed but the country is still gripped by fascism.

Ark skilfully captures the majesty of the Ark Royal, from its building and launch represented by the minimalist motifs in the introduction up to its eventual sinking (I come from a shipbuilding town). It's no surprise that Galloway's rather good minimalist album Transitions was released at around the same time, the track is closer to a contemporary classical-rock fusion reminiscent of Mike Oldfield than to anything else in the prog/post- rock HOGIA canon. There's not that much lead guitar in their oeuvre but here we're treated to a lovely understated, moving solo that reflects the grandeur of the vessel. Ark is a well-constructed, stately piece of music that is based on a personal connection to the Second World War aircraft carrier Ark Royal where Galloway's grandfather was an airman on the Swordfish bombers. Galloway inherited his grandfather's Second World War Flight logs and has included the moving story behind the song in the CD booklet.

Nanobotoma (a word Galloway believes he invented) is restrained HOGIA post-rock where the self-penned story about using nanobots to cure a leukaemia but in a twist that is perfect for the current coronavirus pandemic, the bots eradicate the original disease but replicate out of control and affect the protagonist's behaviour. While evolving to become transmissible by respiratory secretions they make their host lonely, to seek solace in close company, so that they can spread the nanobot tumour to other hosts.

Although Chasing Neon, which is also from the Ark EP, appears as a standalone track, it could easily be part of the Ark Redemption suite, the following sequence of tracks that form what could be a sci-fi/horror/thriller movie soundtrack. Chasing Neon is an electronic offering that might easily be the instrumental soundtrack to a dystopian film of the near-future starring a former governor of California. There are brief snatches of Berlin- school soundscape but it's largely programmed arpeggio sequences more in line with the work of Harold Faltermeyer or Brad Fiedel.

The Ark Redemption suite inspired by Reynolds' Revelation Space novels actually begins with Glitterband. This continues the retro-futuristic feel and also feeds from recognisable HOGIA post-rock tropes ' the lyrics are clever but the music is comparatively sparse and I'm not too sure that the track works. What is interesting is that I'm a fan of Mark Gatland's bass playing but it first becomes really noticeable on Glitterband. Conjoiners fits very well within a suite inspired by space novels, though this is more inner space because the subject matter is the direct connection of human minds. It's another instrumental but it changes mood from a very mellow synth introduction, shifting gear to a fast repeating lead synthesizer motif over a keyboard wash, before slowing down into space rock territory. Scorpio, a portrait of a genetically engineered human/pig hybrid with the function of a slave is really rocky' 'and all too brief. Listening to Inhibitors without the benefit of the liner notes made me think of SFX incidental music for a horror film soundtrack, perhaps for something like Alien. The only instrument is treated flute and it's very, very effective. The suite ends with the title track Nostalgia for Infinity. This has a short, deceptive minimalist introduction before a Gatland-driven bass groove kicks in and Thomas' voice recites the track title. A short, spacey interlude with wordless vocals presages a wandering flute melody and then the song proper commences. This is classic HOGIA post-rock territory but here Galloway's vocals are quite restrained.

Voyager is an instrumental with a Wish You Were Here-era Floyd-like beginning giving way to bluesy guitar solo that could be from the same era. The middle section drifts a little before the keyboards take centre stage with an uplifting, relatively up-tempo lead synthesizer melody. It's an apt musical interpretation of the journey of Voyager I, launched in 1977 and now the most distant man-made object in outer space.

I heard Sixth Extinction played live in 2019 and although I liked the sentiment I found it a difficult listen. On the other hand, the studio version, apart from the first verse, is a vast improvement. Galloway describes the song as 'aggressive' and it has a bit of punk attitude. There's heavy riffing and chugging guitar but it wasn't the music that I had a problem with - it was when too many words were crammed into the vocal lines like a stream of consciousness or rap; I've previously described Galloway's delivery as sounding disdainful like Pete Shelley (The Buzzcocks) but on the Sixth Extinction chorus I get hints of Bowie. On the whole I think Nostalgia for Infinity is a really good effort. It's immediately obvious that this is a Hats Off Gentlemen It's Adequate album; it's strangely familiar but now incorporates a broader selection of styles and there's a noticeable maturity to the songwriting, subtle things like minorising the key at the end of a phrase but also the embrace of experimentation like on Inhibitors. I first heard the group when Broken but Still Standing was released and raved about the flute during the first proggy 15 minutes. I'm still raving about the flute, which is always beautifully arranged but I'm also impressed with the way long-form pieces like Ark or the Ark Redemption suite are constructed, and this is the direction I think would play to their strengths ' still less vocals. They can also do some pretty good things live as a duo or trio with programmed effects, but incorporating other musicians into the live set, when we're out of lockdown restrictions, would surely propel Hat Off Gentlemen It's Adequate towards a brighter future.

This is a 7/10 album - 3.5 stars

Over the last year or so I have reviewed all of HOGIA's albums, along with many of the minimalist solo releases from band leader Malcolm Galloway, so I was intrigued to hear the latest. On this album he provides vocals, guitar, keyboards, synths and programming and he is of course joined by long-time collaborator Mark Gatland (bass, additional guitars, keyboards/synths, Chapman Stick) and flautist Kathryn Thomas who performs on five of the songs on offer. Kathryn has been working with HOGIA since their second album, but I believe this is the one where she had the biggest part to play. Usually there is a larger number of guests, but for this album it is just the three of them.

As I have come to expect from HOGIA, this album is a combination of lengthy instrumental passages, plus songs with interesting and intriguing lyrics. One of the prevailing themes of the album is the fragility of human civilisation, with tracks exploring this from a science fiction perspective. Galloway states he has been massively influenced by the works of Alastair Reynolds in particular and has set some of the tracks within worlds Reynolds created. For me, the song which has the most impact is "Ark", which is an instrumental depicting the story of the famous aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. Galloway has a personal link with the ship, as his grandfather served with the Fleet Air Arm and was based on the ship for a while, and he now has Richard Galloway's flight logs and I am sure this link is what has assisted in creating an incredibly dramatic piece of music. The piece starts with the ship being built, and then works through different stages from surviving a U-boat attack to its part to the sinking of the Bismarck through to its own demise. He dedicates this piece to "Richard Galloway, the Fleet Air Arm, and all those who risked everything to stand up against the Nazis", and to me is one of the most poignant and emotional pieces I have heard from him to date.

As with all of HOGIA's albums, this is full of differing styles and contrasts, yet I believe this time the separate pieces blend together in a way which has been somewhat missing from the others. Art rock and crossover combine in a way which is both immediate and somewhat deeper than before. I would like to hear more of Kathryn throughout the album, and a real drummer would be welcomed, but if anyone has yet to start a journey with HOGIA then this is the one to investigate.

UK band HATS OFF GENTLEMEN IT'S ADEQUATE first appeared back in 2009, with composer and musician Malcolm Galloway as the main creator of the band. From 2012 and onward the band has released a steady stream of studio albums. "Nostalgia for Infinity" is their fifth studio album so far, and was released through the band's own label Glass Castle Recordings at the start of 2020.

Hats Off Gentlemen It's Adequate as of 2020 still strikes me as a band that will be of interest to those who tend to enjoy the more accessible aspects of progressive rock. While I can't really pidgenhole the band into any one tradition as such, I'd say that those who enjoy bands such as later day Pendragon as well as some of those bands that focus more on cosmic and futuristic sounds probably should enjoy this album quite a bit. With a slight reservation for the lead vocals, as I suspect that element will be somewhat divisive also for other listeners.