GREEN ASPHALT

With a tidal wave of modern retro prog bands looking back to the golden years of the 1970s for their primary influences, it seems like the usual suspects of Yes, Genesis, Camel, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Van der Graaf Generator and the Italian symphonic greats are the ones that get the most retro action. But it also seems that there have been a few so-called untouchables that sounded too bold, too unique and virtually uncopyable. Gentle Giant has been one of those bands that took all those knotty curveball prog attributes of the 70s and steered them in a completely different direction. Considered too complex even for proggers of the day, the band would have to wait several decades after its breakup for the world to catch up to its unique approach.

Enter GREEN ASPHALT, yet another Swedish band in the nation's burgeoning prog world that has taken upon itself to utilize the wealth of Gentle Giant influences that have been virtually ignored save the occasional references in fleeting moments (such as Haken's "Cockroach King" for example). Perhaps it's because Gentle Giant has attained god status in the world of progressive rock that copying their intricate idiosyncracies has become somewhat of a taboo. Here finally is a band that pays tribute to GG without completely sounding like a clone. The band has a legit connection too as it was initiated by Dan Bornemark who has been a close friend of Kerry Minnear and producer of GG's "Scraping The Barrel" box set.

The band features Bornemark on keyboards and bass with Hjördis Bornemark (vocals and presumably related), Helena Josefsson (vocals), Signe Bornemark (vocals), Bengt Baadtoft Johnson (drums), Björn Claeson (flute, saxophone) and Niklas Ekelund (guitar) joining forces on this self-titled debut that hit the world in 2022. Graced with seven tracks at a classic album running time of 47 1/2 minutes, GREEN ASPHALT is the closest thing to GG i've yet heard with a strong propensity for melodic driven prog songwriting fortified with knotty outbursts of angularity and woven tapestries of counterpoints that have the Shulman brothers' classic style stamped voraciously throughout. From the environmentalist turned poetic opening track "The Green Asphalt" to a light Canterbury-tinged whimsey of "She's A Cow," GREEN ASPHALT displays a keen sense of technical mastery along with a diverse roster of subject matter.

This band seems to leave no GG stone unturned as it employs all the rhythmic peculiarities, multi-layered polyrhythms, hairpin turns, audacious time signature use and of course vocal harmonies. Coming off more as a tribute band than an actual modern representative of the modern prog world, GREEN ASPHALT indeed has mastered all the GG-isms in full regalia with GG's entire ten year album run represented in some shape or form. The band actually spent a whopping 17 years making this album and in many ways it shows. The musical processions are fine-tuned to perfection and the production is top notch representing the modern world in all its advances. The band members have earned an honorary PHD in Gentle Giant studies for sure as they have nailed every little intricate nuance of GG's classic sound so much so that it's almost impossible to detect any other musical references in its midst.

This is an album that evokes mixed responses. There are those who are thrilled to have a GG 2.0 band reinterpreting the band's classic contributions to prog without castigating the band for being derisively derivative in just about every way and then there are those like me who don't find this original enough in content for it to stand on its own. While the GG-isms are performed exquisitely, what GREEN ASPHALT does have to offer beyond that is fairly mediocre. The lead vocals of Hjördis Bornemark are the worst aspect of this experience for me. These mopey low register utterances are simply too restrictive to unleash the full potential of a true GG retro experience. Add to that the compositions aren't anywhere near the transcendental sophistication of Gentle Giant's amazing display of competency from its self-titled debut to its last great prog album "Interview."

Some of the tracks on this one are just downright dull and insipidly stale. While the album starts off strong with the outstanding opener, the quality quickly tapers off with "Xcuse Me" and only has occasional moments of redemption. Overall i think this band has generated a lopsided effect with more attention paid to emulating the playing style of Gentle Giant without mastering the most significant underpinnings of all, namely the compositional fortitude. The magic of Gentle Giant is missing from this one and overall the album just comes off as too long for its own good without enough thought paid to the overall instant addictiveness that classic GG albums instantly demanded. A noble effort that hopefully will lead to a band effort that finds its own voice in the GG stylistic approach but as far as this debut is concerned there are too many elements simmering in unsatisfying mediocrity and copycatism for me to get overly excited about.