Leprous set controls for the heart of the prog
JAMES SHARROCK
LEPROUS ARE PROOF progressive music, with its technicality or more cerebral songcraft, can still be packed full of hooks. It’s fitting, then, that openers KALANDRA exemplify this sentiment, albeit from an entirely new angle. Katrine Stenbekk’s vocals are entrancing, layered atop each other to create a haunting beauty. A bowed bass during opener Veiviseren adds to the folky atmosphere, but by Naive they’ve morphed into a prog rock spectacle carrying all the emotion of before with a renewed intensity. The appearance of an as-yet-untitled horn-led song mid-set elevates the sense of space both in volume and being otherworldly. It’s enrapturing, giving Monuments an incredibly tough act to follow.