The Round Window released their eponymous debut album last year, and it was instantly a hit on this website. You can see both my review and the subsequent extensive interview with vocalist and songwriter Richard Lock by hitting on the buttons below.

So, in December 2023, we have the sophomore work, Everywhere & Nowhere, an album I have been looking forward to all year. I am delighted to report that it doesn’t disappoint. The band have not fallen victim to the dreaded “difficult second album” syndrome, but, instead, have given us a set of songs which build upon the atmospheric, intelligent, debut; an album which is ambitious, very relevant in 2023, sublimely played, sensitive, and filled with sound and emotion.

Once again, the main protagonists are songwriter Richard Lock on vocals; David Brazington, guitars; Thomas Lock, keyboards; Dietmar Schantin, bass guitar; and Jack Lock, drums & percussion. The wonderful Robin Armstrong (on whose label Gravity Dream Records this is again available) extends his involvement by producing the album in addition to mixing & mastering, and it should not be necessary for me to point out to progressive music fans that Robin does not nurture and promote a band which is not worthy in return of our support and appreciation. He also adds some keyboards, and it is great to see a guest spot on Resist by the unbelievably talented Peter Jones on saxophone.

Lock’s voice tells his stories adroitly. The guitar solos performed by Brazington are stunning - he has excelled himself. Thomas Lock’s textures on keyboards are critical to the listener’s head being filled with sound, whilst the rhythm section of Jack Lock and Dietmar Schantin provide not only that underpinning support essential to all rock music but also play their instruments as lead in vital parts.   

The Tides is an eleven-minute statement of intent as an opener which pulls you into the band’s world, and kind of creeps up on you before you find yourself immersed in both the music and epic tale, with its reference to Calliope, the muse in Greek mythology who presided over eloquence and epic poetry. The opening guitar bars have a lovely bass melody underpinning them. The muse takes the writer’s hand and thus is born a tale of travels and valour, which I have, without asking Richard, taken as a kind of personal commentary of the band’s continuing journey set to fable. There is some very intricate keyboard work in this, and there is a relentless pace until five minutes in when we get a full stop introducing a beautiful piano and acoustic guitar duet, really very special with overlaid synths creating that atmosphere the band are so good at. Ever so gradually, the pace picks up again, Brazington produces his first guitar burst, and it is a great one, and the final vocal passage is emotional as the subject is finally heard against ghostly closing notes. Extremely impressive.

The title track follows, and the video released by the band is embedded below. Incidentally, the photography on the CD of this is stunning, with the figure at the top of an outcrop staring into infinite space. Again, the bassline on this is melodious and the piece is quite reflective lyrically, both looking inward and contemplating the larger picture. There are some fine guitar riffs on a piece which is a natural choice for a first single from the album.

All Roads Lead Home starts with some achingly sad guitar and key notes. The words speak of a deeply personal event, and the soundscapes provided by the band, especially on the keys, accompany this perfectly. The track expands with “all these roads”. Brazington gives us a fine solo evoking the theatre of life before Lock provides a vocal passage which leads a cinematic band leading the charge on the road to home.

Resist is a song for our times. Instantly recognisable is Jones on a smoky sax introducing a track which to me talks of the almost constant tension in our society now, and especially of the need to protect our right to say no and tell leaders that we will not put up with limitations placed on our right to tell them they are talking bollocks. Fans of Supertramp will love the sax driven passage just over halfway in accompanied by the type of piano plink Rick Davies made his own, and I love it. The track builds into a monumental riff-laden climax as we “say it early, say it once, say it firmly, say no”. This is a personal highlight of 2023. Everything that is good about this band and the varying influences and sounds they bring to their music is here, blues to classic rock to art prog to wall of sound.

Holes follows, an interesting track lyrically unequivocally stating freedom from manipulation. The synths which accompany the opening vocals soar, and the drum pattern on this is about as good as I have heard all year, leading the charge alongside a throbbing bass, some quietly complex guitar notes and above it all Thomas Lock providing for some stirring cloud synths. There is a sense of the hunter and the hunted throughout this, with the latter determined to assert his freedom and the track’s closing passage is at once stirring and then evocative, always full of sound.

Ghosts is up next, and this track I believe deals with internal memories and experiences as opposed to the ghoulie type. The interplay between Rich’s yearning voice and initially the haunting guitar, and then a wonderful organ, are a joy, and the track as it develops with the looping “ghosts appear, ghosts are here” theme provides for an initial room filling sound, followed by a wonderfully quiet contrast, before the band reassert themselves to close in a very moving fashion, wailing guitar leading the charge in a wonderfully produced noise.

My personal favourite of the album is Parabellum, another questing intelligent track made for the times we live in. The word itself is Latin meaning “prepare for war”, but more specifically that if you want peace, then you should prepare for its opposite, and, indeed, debates about this are raging across the world. Europe is once more experiencing conflict following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and the shockingly tragic situation in Israel/Gaza is in the forefront of our minds as this album is released. This track is nearly nine minutes long and is a piece of music I think is essential. The thumping drums by Jack Lock are as good an exposition of his craft you are likely to hear, the dramatic keyboards which perfectly encapsulate the fear and loathing we experience daily now, the gorgeous interplay between piano and the vocals by Rich which express so well the humanity which lies behind every single conflict, the stories of otherwise ordinary men and women caught up in conflicts not of their making. Cleverly, the song is set to a marching pattern, an almost military pastiche. Brazington’s guitar is quite beautiful and simply the electric string performance of the year for me. Fans of Cosmograf will recognise Robin’s influence in this, especially the plaintive voices which lead us into the closing segment which simply takes the breath away with its widescreen scope. This is the best commentary on war I have heard since Waters split opinion in the rock world on The Final Cut, which I personally still hold a flaming candle for.

We close with Epilogue. It brings the album themes, both personal and global, to a perfect close. Shine, indeed. The song fills the room with a surround soundscape and the guitar solos from Brazington are achingly beautiful and this is a nice mix of understated jazz and blues infused progressive classic rock with a nice little pastiche in the closing seconds.

This website does not produce a “top ten” list, but if it did, this album would be right up there in a year which has produced so much quality music. What is most pleasing is that The Round Window have produced an album which develops further the unique sound of the debut and pushes new boundaries, the hallmark of intelligent music.

Available from Friday 8th December 2023 at https://theroundwindow.bandcamp.com/album/everywhere-nowhere I cannot recommend this class work highly enough. You can, by the way, get the physical produce from Robin’s label at https://www.gravitydream.co.uk/product-category/the-round-window/ and I would recommend you consider this because, as you can see on this page, the artwork by Paul Tippett is lush.

Also, why not take yourself off to the band’s website at https://theroundwindow.band/ where you can also get the CD and some pretty nice merch as well.

The album will not be available to stream on outlets such as Spotify. I fully support this move by the band, and it is one which is now becoming increasingly common as a movement starts against corporate exploitation. Not to put too fine a point on it, to hell with the manipulators, and put a caressing arm around the creators. If we don’t, where will we end up – in the algorithmic grip of those who couldn’t give two hoots about the creative desire?