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Steven Wilson is no stranger to controversy. Since the early days of Porcupine Tree, he’s refused to repeat himself and has followed the same mantra throughout his solo career. His latest release, The Future Bites, tackles consumerism, social media and the loss of individuality against an electronic beat. He tells Prog why he’ll never stop embracing change. Words: Jerry Ewing Images: Lasse Hoile
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Prog
Issue 117
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Other Articles in this Issue


PROG ROCK IN FOCUS
THE CAMERA EYE
WILL IRELAND “With the greatest respect to them, Frost*
ED'S LETTER
Ed’s Letter
Hello, and welcome to the new issue of
REGULARS
Bloody Well Write
Send your letters to us at: Prog, Future Publishing, 1-10 Praed Mews, Paddington, London, W2 1QY, 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
LETTER
How good to see readers recognising Pendragon’s brilliant album
LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT END THEIR 22-YEAR SILENCE
IF IT’S OUT THERE, IT’S IN HERE
COSMOGRAF ALBUM: IT’S ABOUT TIME!
Robin Armstrong clocks five aspects of a metaphor in as many musical styles
STORY OF 3 ENDS WITH THE THIRD IMPRESSION
Robert Berry completes last song with Keith Emerson
RICHARD BARBIERI CASTS A SPELL
Fourth solo album’s “strange dreams and imagery” are fuelled by forest wanderings
WHEEL GET REAL IN RESIDENT HUMAN
Anglo-Finnish collective aim for honesty with their second album , due in March
MÖBIUS STRIP BACK FROM SILENCE WITH TIME LAG
Jazz proggers inspired by support slot with Soft Machine
BTBAM PREPARE FOR “CRAZY RIDE”
“We’re still pushing ourselves,” says vocalist Tommy Rogers of the upcoming album
TUSMØRKE DREAM OF REALMS BEYOND
New album Nordisk Krim explores the world of prehistoric bog bodies
PHOTO CONTEST WINNER IS DAMIAN WILSON ACTION PIC
Bert Treep is named Affinity Photo New Rock Photographer
FAD GADGETS
Rhodri Marsden on three of the latest must-have gizmos currently putting the prog in progress
DAVID ELLEFSON
Inspiring the wider music world…
OUR OCEANS
Shred guitarist Tymon Kruidenier discovers his voice on latest project
THE DOLL
LISTEN TO THE SILENCE  (BEGGARS BANQUET, 1979)
ANNA HARDY
Our far-out trip to far-flung prog
POLYMOON
Finnish space cadets aim to blow your minds and your eardrums
PG.LOST
Swedish post-rock crew aim high with latest release
SCARDUST
Israeli symphonic prog metallers explore estrangement on their second album
MARK MANGOLD
From Valhalla to Cher, the New York-based songwriter and keyboard warrior returns to his prog roots with a new American Tears album. He tells Prog why he’s itching to get back on the road, and why you shouldn’t try to silence artists when it comes to politics!
TWELVE MILLION AND COUNTING: Aqualung At 50!
Half a century on and Aqualung is as relevant as ever. Jethro Tull’s career-defining album explored themes of homelessness, prostitution and religion, yet the band never considered it to be a conceptual release. This year, it celebrates its 50th anniversary, and Ian Anderson and Martin Barre look back on the making of a classic that even caught Jimmy Page’s attention
DAVE OBERLÉ
Every month we get inside the mind of one of the biggest names in music. This issue, it’s Dave Oberlé. As a founder member of Gryphon, the percussionist and vocalist was responsible for helping to bring quirkiness and curiosity to the band’s musical output. Inspired by medieval and renaissance music, jazz, rock, and folk, Oberlé has remained a constant within the band alongside multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Brian Gulland. He’s also guested on albums by Steve Howe, Wire and Gandalf’s Fist. He looks back on a life that even led to him working on a metal magazine
THE ANCHORESS
New spins… 
AMORPHOUS ANDROGYNOUS
We Persuade Ourselves We Are Immortal  FSOLDIGITAL.COM
TWENTY-FIVE VIEWS OF WORTHING
Twenty-Five Views Of Worthing WINDWAKER RECORDS
ALPHA MALE TEA PARTY
Infinity Stare BIG SCARY MONSTERS
JASON BIELER & THE BARON VON BIELSKI ORCHESTRA
Songs For The Apocalypse FRONTIERS
PETER CHILVERS & JON DURANT
Always Golden Sands/Vista ALCHEMY/BANDCAMP
CULT OF LUNA
  The Raging River RED CREEK 
ELEPHANT9
Arrival Of The New Elders
ARC OF LIFE
  Arc Of Life FRONTIERS
DOWNES BRAIDE ASSOCIATION
Halcyon Hymns CHERRY RED
FISH
A Fish In The Lemon Tree – Live MMXX SOUNDCLOUD
FOVEA HEX
The Salt Garden (Landscaped) LES DISQUES DU CREPUSCULE
HEAVE BLOOD AND DIE
Post People FYSISK FORMAT
JOHN HOLDEN
Circles In Time JOHNHOLDENMUSIC.COM
PETER HESSLEIN
Night Drive LUCIFER’S RECORDS/CHERRY RED
HOSIANNA MANTRA
Particle Mythology HOSIANNA-MANTRA.BANDCAMP.COM
ANNEKE VAN GIERSBERGEN
The Darkest Skies Are The Brightest INSIDEOUT
LEAGUE OF LIGHTS
Dreamers Don’t Come Down EIGHTSPACE
THE LICKERISH QUARTET
Threesome, Vol.2 LOJINX/STRANGER DANGER RECORDS AND TAPES
ANTONI MAIOVVI & ANTA
Church Of The Second Sun DEATH WALTZ
PROGRESSIVE METAL
Dom Lawson buckles up for a delve into the darker, heavier side
GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT
Ghost Tapes #10 NAPALM RECORDS
MEADOWS
Modern Emotions FREYA RECORDS
NORTHWEST
II TEMPEL ARTS
PLANKTON WAT
Future Times THRILL JOCKEY
PAUL SADLER
Soon To Be Absorbed PAUL SADLER PRODUCTIONS
SAGA
Symmetry EARMUSIC
J PETER SCHWALM & ARVE HENRIKSEN
Neuzeit RARENOISE
POST-ROCK
Alex Lynham guides us through the peaks and valleys of essential post-rock
MEER
Playing House KARISMA
SILENT SKIES
Satellites SWEET LEMON
STEARICA
Golem 202020 MONOTREME
STEPHAN THELEN
World Dialogue RARENOISE
THERION
Leviathan NUCLEAR BLAST
AA WILLIAMS
Songs From Isolation BELLA UNION
JOE WONG
Nite Creatures DECCA
A ND LAST BUT NOT LEAST
Grant Moon has a rummage down the back of the Prog sofa for the ones that nearly got away…
BE-BOP DELUXE
Plastic Fantastic ESOTERIC
CURVED AIR
The Albums 1970 – 1973 CHERRY RED
NIRVANA
Songlife 1967-72 MADFISH
RIVERSIDE
Out Of Myself INSIDEOUT
AL STEWART
Year Of The Cat: 45th Anniversary Box Set CHERRY RED
KAYAK
Phantom Of The Night RENAISSANCE RECORDS
BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST: EVERY ALBUM, EVERY SONG
Keith & Monika Domone SONICBOND
ENCYCLOPAEDIA HAWKWINDIA – AN UNAUTHORISED COMPENDIUM
Dave Thompson LULU
THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF PROGRESSIVE ROCK
Gerard Bassols GRUPO EDITORIAL CÍRCULO ROJO
ARENA
From The Beginning – A Photographic History Of The First 25 Years! VERGLAS MUSIC
PROG ROCK EN 150 FIGURES
Dominique Dupuis ÉDITIONS DU LAYEUR
MIKE OLDFIELD
Tubular Bells: From The Manor Born TIGERMOTH
VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR: EVERY ALBUM, EVERY SONG
Dan Coffey SONICBOND 
BARRETT: THE DEFINITIVE VISUAL COMPANION
Russell Beecher & Will Shutes ROCKET 88
MY PROG
Ian Jones (Illuminae/Karnataka)
FEATURES
Travelling With Sound
Last year was one to forget for many, but for French prog rockers Esthesis it was one to savour, with their impressive debut, The Awakening, helping them ensnare best unsigned band in the Prog Readers’ Poll. As mainman Aurélien Goude tells us, things are going to get a lot busier
WISH You Were Here
In his first acoustic album since 2008, Steve Hackett has written a love letter to the rich culture of the Mediterranean.  After all that’s gone on over the last year, it’s a more than welcome sojourn. The former Genesis guitarist tells us more about this celebratory album
TheHighPriests OfRhythmicNoise
Ring Van Möbius firmly believe that more is always better. After a two-year gestation period the Norwegian classic prog act have returned with their second album, The 3rd Majesty. Frontman Thor Erik Helgesen tells Prog why he’s definitely not holding back
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
Feel The Change
Aviv Geffen has always embraced change and Blackfield, his art rock project with Steven Wilson, is evolving. As the pair celebrate 20 years of friendship, Geffen reveals the motivation behind sixth album For The Music and tells Prog why he’ll never give up his dream of peace
Old Ways
If any band can transcend the gloom that 2020 left behind, Prog’s bets are on Wardruna. The folk-infused experimental collective might have had their wings clipped with the delayed release of the otherworldly Kvitravn, but they’re now ready to soar. Prog explores old knowledge and new sounds with founder Einar Selvik
Eivør
She joined avant-jazz group Yggdrasil in her early 20s and has since dabbled with folk, tribal rhythms, trip hop, chamber pop and throat singing. A native Faroese artist, she’s collaborated with Wardruna’s Einar Selvik and her otherworldly vocals can be heard in the opening credits of historical drama The Last Kingdom. So we have to ask: how prog is Eivør Pálsdóttir?
SEASON’S END
Now in their 15th year, Frost* have earned themselves a place at the table of modern neo prog. Following the release of the 13 Winters collection, co-founding keyboardist Jem Godfrey surveys the band’s history and offers insight into their future
Breaking News
Thirty years into their career, Jump have made their most charged album to date. In a candid conversation, John Dexter Jones takes Prog to the dark heart of Breaking Point
Ragnarök ’n’ Roll
Written more than 18 years ago, Odin’s Raven Magic is the kind of thoughtful slice of Norse mythology only a band like Sigur Rós could get away with. In the band’s first interview for Prog, bassist Georg Hólm looks back at the making of a remarkable record, their remarkable past, and unclear future
SOLACE IN SOLITUDE
With the world at a standstill, Australian band Teramaze had nothing left to do but write new music. Together and from afar, this is the story of the making of their most emotionally focused album to date
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