Lifesigns’ new studio album, Altitude, was recorded last year in “bedrooms over the world”, but judging by the expansive sound the prog rockers have assembled, you’d never know. Vocalist and keyboard whizz John Young tells Prog more about the record – and why you won’t be finding the full release on Spotify anytime soon.

Words: Chris Cope

Lifesigns: offering solutions to your musical yearnings!

Images: Lifesigns/Brett Wilde

“Please purchase directly from us to support our independence,” Lifesigns requested via an advert in Prog a few months ago. “No terms and conditions apply.”

The prog rockers’ collective tongue was firmly in cheek when they took out the ad – “we offer solutions to a wide a range of musical yearnings,” they added – but the underlying message was sincere.

Lifesigns’ third studio album, Altitude, is intrinsically independent in nature: it came to fruition thanks to another crowdfunding campaign. This has led to some tagging them as the ‘new Marillion’, who of course pioneered asking fans to pay up front. The eight-track is what many have come to expect from Lifesigns: thoughtfully written prog rock, which is happy to flirt with major chords, earworm melodies and dexterous playing.

It’s another product of the pandemic, with the band lurching into recording following some shows in March 2020, just as the world was about to grind to a halt. And, like most music making last year, the record was pieced together with contributions that had been zapped around online.

“It was very much back and forth, but the problem you have to an extent is if you’re in the studio you can go, ‘Well, I don’t like that, I could do it again,’” singer and keyboard player John Young explains down the line from his home in Bedfordshire. “Filesharing doesn’t give you that option. Steve [Rispin, sound engineer and co-producer] and I had to be fairly busy with the scissors. Everybody has a say in what’s going on, but in the end the final say comes down to me and Steve because we’re actually making the record.