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SYKOFANT – LEAVES EP
(Available on
Bandcamp)
Sykofant is a
progressive rock band hailing from Oslo, Norway.
This EP is actually the second part of two EP
releases. The first one, Red Sun, was
released in early 2025. The two are being combined
for one LP and CD release for which the band is
taking pre-orders. Both are mini-concept albums;
Red Sun is about the harshness of the desert,
while Leaves is about trees and forests, as
you might have already guessed. This review will
focus on Leaves.
Somehow Sykofant manages to pull off the complete
prog experience without a keyboard player. But Emil
Moen, who plays guitar, sings and is the primary
songwriter, plus lead guitarist Per Semb, drummer
Melvin Treider and bassist Sindre Haugen fill out
the soundscape splendidly. This is prog for all
it’s worth, full of vivid sonic textures, songs of
epic grandeur, shifting time signatures, and tracks
with multiple, changing sections.
The
band must have an abiding love for Pink Floyd, as
references are sprinkled all about the EP. Opening
track “Roots and Canopy” will remind you in spots of
the Floyd’s “Welcome to the Machine,” although the
actual song is calming and pretty compared to the
sardonic “…Machine.” And anyway, the similarities
are brief, as Sykofant creates its own appealing
melodies, and the song is gentle and relaxing.
The
track segues into the “Mycelium March” and the
Wish You Were Here-era Floyd nods are present
again, as the chugging rhythm is comparable to “Have
a Cigar” and parts of “Shine On, You Crazy
Diamond.” Again, Sykofant creates something all
their own with it. The instrumental track rocks,
with some scalding guitar work by Semb with help
from Moen while Haugen and Treider apply just the
right amount of funk and percussive chops.
Those two tracks are prep work for the epic
sixteen-minute “Heart of the Woods.” This one’s got
everything but the kitchen sink. It begins with
some lovely classical style acoustic guitar. It
lulled me into such a calm state I could’ve been
blissed out if the entire sixteen minutes was just
that. But this is prog and of course we can’t have
that, as the proceedings are interrupted by a
jolting electric guitar. Section by section, layer
by layer, Sykofant builds “Heart of the Woods” into
a journey full of fast and slow, light and heavy
parts, most of it under the signature of Semb and
Moen’s often blistering guitars. Moen’s vocals are
excellent, usually with stacked overdubbed
harmonies. Pink Floyd makes a return, with a
component ten minutes into the track that reminds me
a bit of “Another Brick in the Wall.” As with the
other tracks, the Floyd references are actually
brief and the artistry is really all Sykofant’s.
The song settles into coda for the last two minutes
as that classical guitar from the beginning returns
and is joined by a female choir consisting of Mina
Storrud, Marie Luren, and Helga Tenold Fridtun.
This section is really gorgeous. The cinematic,
soothing wordless choir sings in rich harmonies,
their voices blending seamlessly. It’s actually my
favorite part of the EP.
Sykofant’s roots (ahem) go back years with Moen and
Semb playing guitar together, but they’re a young
band as a whole, with their recording history only
dating back to their self-titled debut LP in 2024.
It should be interesting to see where their journey
takes them and us next.
(Mark Feingold) |
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THOUGHT BUBBLE - DARK SHAPES
EP
(CD/DL
from
Bandcamp)
The band loved
our review of their last album so much they
rushed their new EP over for us to enjoy. And boy do
we! 'A Complicated Place' beams in from outer space,
dodging champagne bubbles, riding an electronic wave
of funky, body-swerving beats, and will have the
dance floor sagging under the throbbing, mobbing
party crowd. 'Enemies' is a krautrockin' korker
[sic] with a poppier approach to EDM that can be
enjoyed equally on and off the dance floor.
The fun continues on
the playful 'Waiting On The Kill' (think Hot
Butter's 'Popcorn' run amok in a video arcade), and
the ambient, chill out finale 'Forgotten Worlds' has
an air of Peter Gabriel fronting the KLF while navel
gazers stroke their chins approvingly.
(Jeff Penczak)
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