THE TANGENT: The Slow Rust Of Forgotten Machinery (PROGRESSIVE ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Despite some minor health problems, Andy Tillison continues The Tangent's adventure with what could be a new cycle, the first one having ended with the previous album ("A Spark in the Aether") which was presented as an assessment of the adventure started twelve years earlier with "The Music that Died Alone".

For this new album, for once, The Tangent keeps a rather stable line-up. Around their usual pillars Jonas Reingold and Theo Travis, we find once again the brilliant Luke Machin and his guitars, while his Maschine colleague Marie-Eve de Gaultier lends her voice and her keyboards to the whole album. The other novelty is actually behind the drums, as Andy Tillison takes up a role he had abandoned some thirty years ago!

As for the theme of this 9th studio album, our Englishman who lived in France for a few years has given us the tone : fire on Western governments in general, the British in particular, and notably the treatment they give to refugees. The visual on the cover is particularly convincing on this subject.

As for the music, if some people were expecting a revolution in the style (or rather the styles!) proposed by The Tangent, they'll soon be at their own expense since 'Two Ropes Swing' immediately takes us on the usual paths trodden by the band, with a 70's style progressive music, crossed by numerous interventions on the flute, and some folk/jazz incursions. After this short introduction (compared to the four other long tracks, for a total of 75 minutes), the quintet will continue to develop the concept, adding however some small novelties. Then 'Slow Rust' sees the arrival of some electro sounds (Andy Tillison even mentions a DJ?), with a small middle passage with the sounds of 70's Tangerine Dream, but also several passages in spoken word, in which we understand from a few words (Trump for example) that our artist is pouring out a good part of the venom that must be boiling inside him.

On the other hand, what doesn't change is the band's ability to make tracks with multiple variations, both melodic and rhythmic, which would be difficult to describe in detail. Nevertheless, we remember the large place given to the instrumentalists on all the tracks, and notably on 'The Sad Story of Lead and Astatine' with a saxophone solo punctuating a beautiful jazz club atmosphere, followed by a breathtaking knitting on the bass accompanied by flute, and even a drum solo to conclude the whole piece.

The pinnacle of this technical expression is reached with the excellent instrumental 'Doctor Livingstone (I Presume)', which is punctuated by a stunning bass line and gives an impression of total cohesion in the band. But we can't ignore the splendid progression on a floydian bass/drums rhythmic background in 'A Few Steps Down the Wrong Road', followed by a real lace work on the guitar, before taking on the appearance of a real anthem (12th minute), then turning to hard-rock and finally concluding once again with some spoken words and an evanescent ending with the flute.

Once again, The Tangent delights us with compositions that never generate boredom, served by a bunch of musicians, each one more talented than the other. However, there's a downside to all this, which is Andy Tillison's vocal performance. If his dragging register fits perfectly with the jazz club ambiences and the most intimate passages, it quickly reaches its limits when the tessitura rises, even more so in the choruses and in the muscular parts (and notably in the last track). Without being a hindrance to listening to the album because of the predominance of the instrumental parts, this prevents it from reaching the maximum mark, although it is in my opinion superior to its predecessor. - Official website

THE TANGENT

THE SLOW RUST OF FORGOTTEN MACHINERY

INSIDEOUT MUSIC

PROGRESSIVE ROCK