A Universe Of Their Own
Transatlantic albums come along with only slightly greater frequency than the UK experiencing a total solar eclipse, but with The Absolute Universe, they’ve created a magnum opus that couldn’t be contained in just one version. Prog talks to three-quarters of the supergroup about grappling with too many ideas, creating their own alternate realities, and the art of not compromising.
Words: David West Images: Tobias Andersson
“Neal and I have very American energies, and Roine is a lot more laidback with his Swedish energy, and Pete’s got a very distinctive English energy, so we all go at different paces.”
Mike Portnoy
Transatlantic, clockwise from top left: Roine Stolt, Neal Morse,
Pete Trewavas, Mike Portnoy.
“I think it’s a prog fan’s wet dream,” says drummer Mike Portnoy. Seven years after their last album, Kaleidoscope, the prog powerhouse that is Transatlantic have reassembled for their most ambitious release yet. The newest work from Portnoy, Marillion’s Pete Trewavas, Neal Morse and Roine Stolt, The Absolute Universe nearly proved impossible for its creators to control. It defied their attempts to limit its scope and two distinct versions emerged from the crucible of their musical alchemy: a double disc subtitled Forevermore and a single disc, The Breath Of Life.
It all began in Fenix Recording Studios, Sweden, in September 2019 when the band reconvened to work on new material. “After the Kaleidoscope tour we felt we needed some time away from each other. I won’t go into details, I’m not even sure there are any,” says Trewavas, laughing. “We decided we’d write a long piece of music, which I was in favour of because it gives a lot of scope for the writing, it allows you to bring themes back and develop music. Undoubtedly, one of our strengths is arranging the music. Neal and I get a lot of fun out of revisiting a piece of music with either completely different chords or some twist so that’s it’s not quite the same, which trips us up live no end, but is a lot of fun at the time to scratch your head over.”