New Album By Progressive Rock Band Drifting Sun

Today's Progressive Rock Focus looks at Drifting Sun's 'The Thing', which is the second track on their album released today, March 22nd 2024. I caught this one on Prog Radio (https://www.progradio.com/) which specialises in 'melodic and accessible' prog, which very much matches my kind of thing.

This is an excellent track, I really enjoyed it. It has kind of a viking folk vibe, and the lyrics feature Valhalla and 'men of the north'. I haven't worked out what the Thing actually is, it might take a few more listens, but it feels like a consistent and well-written set of words with no jarring phrases.

One of the things I liked was the interesting vocal phrasing. The master of this is of course Jon Anderson - a style which has been copied by other Yes singers - but this really adds something to a song if you're surprised by how the singer fits the words into the tune. Singer Jargon, who joined the band recently, has done a great job. When the chorus hits for the first time, there's a very nice lift. Not immediately catchy, but then all the best prog takes a few listens, doesn't it? It took me about thirty plays of Foxtrot before I realised what an amazing song 'Can-Utility And The Coastliners' is.

For me, this qualifies as progressive rock by vibe. There aren't any strange time signatures or odd harmonic turns - I think it sticks to the same key for the whole of the 7:49 - it's actually fairly straightforward rock but allowed to play out in a decent amount of time. The individual parts are not complex, but fit together nicely in the way you'd expect a band that's been working together for a long time to do. Classic sounds - organ, prog lead and so on - nothing hugely unexpected but done well.

I look forward to catching the whole album. Drifting Sun - The Thing - a recommended listen.

You can find Drifting Sun at https://driftingsun.co.uk/.

Reasons to listen:

  • You like wearing hats with horns on
  • You like your prog reasonably straightforward and melodic
Reasons not to listen:
  • You've really had enough of mythology-based prog (Really? Call yourself a progger?)
  • You like something a little more musically complex


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