SONGS FROM THE HARD SHOULDER

I have been looking forward to this album for a long while. I haven't heard any songs by The Tangent, but I was excited to get into them through this album when I heard of its release date this year. I heard a ton of good things about the band and I was very interested to check them out, so I am pretty stoked to hear what they sound like with this new release.

The album begins with a 17 minute epic called The Changes. When I first heard this song I was really interested in the sound. It was unique to my ears honestly cause I couldn't really pinpoint what exactly made it sound very much like other Prog bands I have listened to but with something different. I do not think it is jazz, but it is definitely something of the same vein. I'll go out on a limb and say that the song uses the swing genre as somewhat of a basis of sorts. The sound is very nicely done, super rhythmic, super enjoyable, and dare I say danceable in some way? I don't know, I just feel like I kinda wanna boogie you know? Looking at it critically it definitely does leave a bit of a weaker impression on me rather due to the fact the song, while changing a lot, definitely doesn't use a sort of suite like song structure and more like a long continuous part with some spiciness sprinkled in for good measure every couple minutes. It's different, and I like that, but it can do a little more woodwork though. Although I think this song has a great payoff with a guitar solo near the end playing the main motif of the song, which is a really neat and interesting way of closing out an epic, with less of a grand spanking epic finale, and more of a awesome little number to tie the song with a neat bow. I also gotta talk about the lyrics cause they are pretty interesting. The vocals are clear as day, and pretty understandable too, which is a plus. The lyrics are about our future and how we can go further from the hardships that came about with 2020 and 2021, plus the changes the band has had since then. Honestly I think this is the song we kinda need at the moment, to show that we can still create a future for ourselves if we just buckle up and move forward and try to not give the world to such bad people next time. It is hopeful without being too grand about it, which I think definitely gives this song some extra value.

Next up is another 17 minute epic, an instrumental piece called The GPS Vultures. I'd say if you like Wobbler, Moon Safari, Flower Kings, Echolyn, or any sorta modern Prog band that takes influence on 70s Prog bands then imagine if they all played together in a room to come up with a piece. This is that song, sorta in a nutshell but I am not downplaying the song, in fact I really enjoy this sorta style. How the band can really create something structurally sound with very nice flowing is just super nice to the ears, plus the use of the keyboards are just golden. Also that part at 11:47 is just ear candy. I love when guitars go wobbly and hard hitting that it just creates this trippy effect on the listener that it's just serotonin in musical form. Although I do find the ending weak, it definitely feels like it less wraps up and tries to create a destination worth the journey and more like a standard ending, a payoff of sorts. To me a long song, especially in this style, needs to have a strong finish that makes you love the whole experience. This, while there are definitely other qualities in the song that makes it great, does not have that, which I find rather disappointing.

Now we get into sort of the signature track on this album being The Lady Tied to the Lamp Post. Unlike the last two songs that felt like a single song that continuously played and added, here this feels more like a standard epic, still without any parts, but still a sort of flow to where you can see some kind of suite being formed in a way. The sound is sort of a mix between The Changes and The GPS Vulture. Very rhythmic and swinging while also being pretty symphonic and complex in nature. However I think this song delivers in a different department, and that is the lyrics. I already praised the lyrics from The Changes but I feel like here it is a lot more clear cut and expanded upon with its themes. The story is of a homeless woman from the UK who gets abandoned by society and ties herself with a bungee cord to a lamppost as a way to protest against her country's handling of the homeless. Obviously this song is a way to showcase that homelessness is a very huge problem in the UK and how the government treats the homeless too, said to play annoying music in stations, put bars on benches, and give people one way train tickets to try and deter homeless people away from sleeping and living in the not so Great Britain. Songs are definitely a good way to showcase a problem in the world in hopes to bring awareness, and if it worked with many other artists like John Lennon with a lot of his songs or Pink Floyd with basically the entirety of their Animals album, then I hope The Tangent gets the same recognition with this song.

Next up is the shortest song on the album, a four minute and a half song called Wasted Soul. I never expected the band to go from Prog to jazzy disco, but they surprisingly pull it off really well, like it's fun, danceable, and just a very enjoyable tune. The beat is swinging and very fluent, and those saxes and horns just go super well in tandem with the guitar. Overall this song, while poppy in nature, definitely has some great aspects to it that I say is probably my favorite song on the album due to how they seemed to master the disco genre perfectly. The lyrics are also nicely done, with the perspective of someone who is hopeful about what'll happen when Covid 19 restrictions stop. It is meant to be a hopeful piece, much like The Changes and looks at the good of humanity, especially after the rather sad song that was The Lady Tied to the Lamp Post. Not bad, not bad one bit.

And lastly, a bonus track on the album but it is practically a fifth track because they gotta have something for I am guessing a vinyl release, In the Dead of Night / Tangential Aura / Reprise. It is a 16 minute song that takes you on a journey through a ton of jammy instrumentals where the band plays their heart out. It is not completely instrumental though, it does have its fair share of lyrics as well, but they are pretty much a second thought to the instrumentation. Every little note, beat, strum of the guitar, the pressing of the keyboards, the doodles of the horns, it leaves a fulfilled feeling in the listener, knowing they went this far and are rewarded with one bonus song that wraps things nicely, though I do feel like the lyrics should've been more fleshed out and or changed to fit with the album's narrative on the world right now. Just something minor but definitely a bit noticeable especially after the songs before it.

This is a great album, like I am kinda surprised at how wonderfully done it is. Maybe with more time I might find this to be my favorite album of this year, but only time will tell. I love the themes, the instrumentation, and how it all flows, but it obviously has some weaker sore spots that make it a little bit wobbly if you look at it with a crystal clear magnifying glass. Other than that, it is definitely an album I say you should definitely check out.