SANGUINE HUM - Now We Have Power

It's a long story that ties together Matt Baber and Joff Winks.

It was the year 2000 when the two lads from Oxford put their school-day friendship to good use and formed their first band: Antique Seeking Nuns. With a mix of Canterbury, progressive, Frank Zappa and post-rock, the band recorded three interesting EPs, while also nurturing a side project, the Joff Winks Band, more inclined toward pop contamination.

Under the name Sanguine Hum, the English musicians closed both chapters to focus on a more versatile sound, one that smoothed out the intricate, rigid structures of contemporary prog-rock, letting a more modern and at times dreamlike narrative intensity flow through. Surreal is indeed the starting point of the project that Baber and Winks have been carrying forward under this new name for twelve years now: the narrative core is the story of a man of fragile mental balance who, amid flashes of genius and recklessness, decides he wants to solve the world's energy problem, aided by scant scientific knowledge and the spiritual support of a cat and a stick of butter.

The follow-up to 2015's "Now We Have Light," "Now We Have Power" sees the return of drummer Paul Mallyon (who, incidentally, was still credited as a writer on the previous album), as well as a move to Bad Elphant, a label that's been focusing its attention on contemporary prog with a string of solid releases.

Without abandoning their progressive-rock ethos, Sanguine Hum display a strong gift for synthesis, keeping predictability at bay even on the more typical tracks ("The View Part 1"), while shifting their frame of reference toward the modern explorations of Steven Wilson and Porcupine Tree ("The View Part 2").

The lyrical and instrumental drive of the more energetic "Speak To Us" and the delicate sinuousness of "Swansong" are the two poles between which the band moves gracefully, offering pleasant variations on a theme, even if they don't exactly shine for originality.

"Now We Have Power" is nonetheless the band's most accomplished and cohesive album, a record that delivers a handful of small gems bound to win them wider attention. Chief among them is the clever blend of Canterbury, prog and post-rock on "Bedhead," a track that drifts through complex rhythmic shifts, jazzy instrumental breaks, and finely crafted solo passages for trumpet, guitar and keyboard.

At times the band leaves certain melodies slightly unresolved, much like King Crimson did ("Pen! Paper! Paper! Pen!", "A Tall Tale"), capturing that same magic Fripp and co. so masterfully outlined on "Island," blending neoclassicism and jazz ("Flight Of The Uberloon").

With a more incisive, distinctive vocalist ("Devachan Don") and a touch more confidence in the songwriting ("Quiet Rejoicing"), "Now We Have Power" would stand a much better chance of widening the Sanguine Hum fan club, but the skill with which the band holds the listener's attention even on the instrumental tracks ("Skydive"), together with their steadily maturing songwriting, confirms the English group as one of the best prog outfits around today.

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20/01/2019