Jadis - No Fear of Looking Down

Today we're diving into the world of Jadis, who is of course the wicked witch of the Narnia books. Jadis have been around since the 1980s and were part of the neo-prog scene back then. I'm going to start with their 2016 album No Fear of Looking Down for the very good reason that it come up first on Amazon. So, are they always winter but never Christmas, or are they turkish delight?

Their songs generally seem to be in the 5 to 7 minute category. Experience leads me to expect extended rock songs rather than suddenly changing prog epics. The first song, Listen to me, bears this out. We're in Steve Hackett territory, I think - strong vocals, good melodies. Beautiful guitar sounds. I'm not so keen on the use of the Korg synth preset throughout the song but that's not going to bother you if you're not a total synth nerd like I am. Later on the same riff emerges again on guitar, and it works well. This is a strong opener, though it's firmly in neo-prog territory and not offering anything particularly new.

The band's website talks about No Fear of Looking Down being the 'soon to be released latest offering' - update your biography lads. Wikipedia lists Martin Orford (also of IQ) being a current member of the band but I'm not sure that's true - surely Martin has long retired from music? All in all, you get the impression of a band that's not particularly active, but they are gigging and they release a new album in June 2024. It will be reviewed here.

I'm listening as I write this, and I'm up to track 3, Just let it happen. A really interesting introduction with a beautiful guitar. The vibe here reminds me of late Pink Floyd - laid back, an underlying sense of menace, not too much happening in the harmony - and then it confirms that with a great new section about two-thirds in. Good stuff.

Next song starts with some lovely acoustic guitar (is that a 12-string?) and some strong vocals. The drums come in and it's my favourite section of the album so far. This is one of those songs that could just play and play and not get boring. They try some heavier guitar later to build it, which works fine.

Track 5 has a great classic prog intro. With a flute! Yay! Change of the season follows the old tradition of having an instrumental track on your album, and it's a cracker. Sections move into each other seamlessly, covering a lot of ground.

If you want to hear one logical conclusion of the neo-prog movement forty years on, you could do a lot worse than Jadis. A really solid listen. It's probably not going to completely blow you away, but then, does anything do that any more? That's probably me getting old.

Reasons to listen:

• You miss 1980s Marillion and the days when you could watch various neo-prog bands play at the Marquee

Reasons not to listen:

• None. Absolutely no reasons whatsoever. If you're reading this you'll like it.

I've just got to the end of the album, having (I thought) finished this blog post ten minutes ago. The last track's a cracker - it's based on a really interesting set of choppy guitar chords that makes for something really different. They saved the best until last.