THE CYCLE UNDONE

Can it really be ten years since the debut album from these guys? 'A Lifeblood Psalm' was released in 2013, when I gave it full marks, but this was only released at the end of 2023, so I guess it was. Mind you, Geoffrey Langley (vocals, keyboards) joined Renaissance in 2016 and he has been very busy on that front. One would not expect the band to have the same line-up given the length of time, but Justin Carlton (guitars, keyboards), Richmond Carlton (bass) and Joe Henderson (drums, percussion) have all returned with the only change being the departure of guitarist Steve Kostas who has been replaced by Jeff Bishop. When I reviewed them last time, I said they were mixing pop sensibilities (think Coldplay) with progressive (think Gentle Giant) with rock (think John Miles and City Boy). Now we have seen them move more away from the pop area, and more into the prog and rock stylings, and they are more than happy to provide lengthy complex instrumental passages which have a real sense of purpose and are far more than just a vehicle for them to show off.

Opener "Recodified" has plenty of Gentle Giant stylings (they are the main influence through much of this album) and at twelve minutes in length only suffers from being somewhat too short: that final passage could have lasted much longer to my mind. Mind you, that is not the longest track on the album, that title belongs to "The Cycle Undone" where Geoffrey kicks it off by showing just what a fine pianist he is, providing a wonderfully complex classical introduction which leads us into some gently picked guitars. The vocals are kept quite a way back in the mix, never dominating, which allows the different musical layers to be easily heard with the use of space an important element. This never feels rushed or constrained in any way, rather that the song is being given the time it needs to develop, which it does in a somewhat unexpected way as it becomes a full-on instrumental belter, and then as it drops back in volume an instantly recognisable voice can be heard. Yes, we have none other than Annie Haslam guesting, which soon turns into a duet. Perhaps this should not be too much of a surprise given Geoffrey being in Annie's band, but I certainly wasn't expecting it.

I am somewhat surprised to see this album not gaining more recognition given the almost universal acclaim for the debut, but 10 years can be a long time for some. We can only hope more people discover this wonderful prog release and we do not have to wait quite so long for the next one.