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Born Again

Just when Astra looked like prog’s next stars, the band’s spark fizzled out. Ten years after his last album, Conor Riley returns with Birth, plugging into the cosmos and making the music he loves for its own sake. Prog catches up with him to discuss reinvention and his new band’s debut record, Born.

Words: David West Images: Vince Edwards

Birth, L-R: Trevor Mast, Conor Riley, Brian Ellis, Thomas DiBenedetto.

It might be an obvious analogy but Born, the excellent debut from San Diego’s Birth, marks a rebirth of sorts. Singer and multiinstrumentalist Conor Riley and guitarist Brian Ellis set the prog and psych scenes alight a decade ago with Astra, releasing two acclaimed albums with 2009’s The Weirding and 2012’s The Black Chord. They toured the UK and Europe and seemed poised to be the next big thing in Mellotron-drenched euphoric prog, but then it all went very quiet. What happened to the bright young things?

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Prog
Issue 132
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REGULARS
Prog PRESENTS…
White Willow. Discovering Launched in 1987, The Laser’s
Ed’s Letter
Stream the Prog 132 playlist at www.spoti.fi/3OuiCEN Hello,
Bloody well Write
Send your letters to us at: Prog, Future Publishing, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London, W2 6JR, or email prog@futurenet.com. Letters may be edited for length. We regret that we cannot reply to phone calls. For more comment and prog news and views, find us on facebook.com under Prog.
TWEET TALK
Follow us on twitter.com/ progmagazineUK JO QUAIL @JoQuailCello
LETTER
T hank you for an excellent feature on
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