Progressive music has always been, to my mind, an attitudinal thing. Declaring outright that your band/project have the intent of pushing whatever style you are pursuing to a previously unattained level, whether melodic or not, is to be commended and cherished.
When your form is purely instrumental, the resultant increase in freedom means that careful restraint needs to be applied in order to prevent your labour of love from careering past Clevertown into the abyss of Indulgentville. Progressive means taking risks because they feel like the right thing to do, going somewhere because it feels natural; irrespective of its complexity.
Context established. The Physics House Band are a progressive three piece from Brighton. Reminiscent in turn of fearless magicians Serious Beak, Goblin devotees Zombi and the unbridled lunacy of Gong, Abraxical Solapse is one of the tracks from their upcoming release, ‘Horizons/Rapture’.
Sporting bass, drums, guitar and two synths (played at intervals by the guitarist and bassist), the material is cleverly deployed and assembled. Abraxical Solapse possesses that wonderful gift of being intricate, highly enjoyable and surprisingly short; not a second of the 3:25 is wasted. Delving into the band’s available lexicon, the blunt dissonance of their take on Good King Wenceslas and the utterly majestic Titan proves this is no one-off.
When this EP drops, those who are brave and musically keen will flock to it like crazed moths. Essential listening, and worthy of the title.