INNER EAR BRIGADE – Perkunas

cover

Let me admit from the start that I lack the music theory knowledge to give this album justice, but I will have a go at it anyway. Inner Ear Brigade from the Bay Area have been around for about twenty years. Their first EP Belly Brain (2005) was flying under the radar, but the subsequent albums Rainbro (2012) and Dromology (2017) received far more attention with their smart mix of complex progressive rock structures and still catchy songwriting, with marvellous vocals by Melody Ferris. Since then, seven years passed, but finally band leader Bill Wolter (keyboards, guitars and compositions) is back with the third longplayer Perkunas, named after the Baltic god of thunder. Melody Ferris can still be heard on two tracks, but lead vocals are this time in charge of new addition Madeline Tasquin whose more varied performance elevates the band’s sound to new heights. I also need to point out Ivor Holloway on saxophone and EWI (electronic wind instrument… in case you are wondering: I had to google it too).

What makes Perkunas Inner Ear Brigade’s best album is how the songs mostly are quite different from one another but still manage to form a cohesive whole. The opener Ecobio Curves, with vocals delivered in the artificial Kobaïan language invented by French Zeuhl inventors Magma, if of course partly a tribute to said band, but has a lot more to offer than just that. The wind parts have this repetitive structure you might find in Philip Glass compositions, and the vocals lie somewhere between Magma and Hatfield and the North’s Northettes choirs. Sumimasen comes with a Japanese title and is about how communication has deteriorated in the age of social media. This track is the most pop piece on the album, but of course still full of these pleasant details that make Inner Ear Brigade’s music so magical. Earendel (according to Wikipedia: an Anglo-Saxon mythological figure, the Morning Star) is an instrumental track that offers upbeat jazz fusion that showcases wonderful saxophone and electric piano playing. Goblin Gruel Part 2 still feels rather accessible, although it comes in 5/4 time. Muse 2 Entropy is under five minutes the shortest track on the album and sees the band dabbling in chamber rock, which gives us some respite, before things get livelier again with the quasi-instrumental Brood X which starts with a bouncy ska rhythm. The album ends with the nearly ten-minute-long title track which shows the band from its more progressive rock side: many different parts, lots of tension building up, moving vocals… the whole deal!

None other than Henry Cow’s Fred Frith delivers the opening lines in the band’s promo package, comparing Inner Ear Brigade to Hatfield and the North, Magma and Thinking Plague. The latter makes a lot of sense, although Inner Ear Brigade manage to pack their complex songwriting in accessible songs. So there is a lot of avant prog, rock in opposition, some Canterbury and Zeuhl traces, and when you look back what has been released this last few years, you can’t help noticing that the more underground subgenres of progressive rock are finally getting the revival they have always deserved. Inner Ear Brigade may have been around for two decades, but Perkunas is a creative zenith that has come out of nowhere and should appeal to the demanding palate of every sophisticated progressive rock fan.

7 songs

46:27 minutes

***** *****

Genre: avant progressive rock

Label: Geomancy

Released: 22nd November 2024

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