There is, regrettably, a hefty minority of progressive rock fans who have not moved beyond the music of their youth. You see them on forums regularly, bemoaning the fact that Marillion have only made one album which sounds like Script for a Jester’s Tear, that Rush introduced, gasp, synthesisers and stopped singing about blokes with big dogs, and how Phil Collins on his own absolutely destroyed prog as an artform.
This website, and, indeed, the bulk of modern forward-thinking commentators, take a different view, welcoming the new and especially embracing the next generation of intelligent rock music writers and performers who are not shackled to this mindset. The alternative is a world in which the only product is corporate crap, and that is a future I am not prepared to countenance. Since I started, I have reviewed several such acts, and the fact that none of them needs, or wants, to sound like ELP, but simply themselves, is something I welcome with open arms.
To such a list can now be added Vamoosery, a band based in Coventry (the UK Midlands previously better known musically for Two Tone, which I loved, and a fair few death metal acts). They describe their music as “alt-prog”, and it is not a bad description. In common with other musical artists of their generation featured here starting on their journey, the music is a wide-ranging eclectic mix of influences, from the traditional to the radical, infused with a spirit which doesn’t want to stand still, but needs to be, and is, relevant, and, yes, that very much includes producing some distinctly modern commercial stuff. In that context, their debut album Moving Forward is perfectly named, although it actually refers to events far more personal.
The personnel are Sheridan White on vocals, and she has a killer set of pipes; Joel Julian on guitars & keys; James Nicholson electric guitar; Richard Taylor bass; and Kevin Button on drums, and all four of the blokes contribute to the vocal department backing White.
Before discussing the music, a word about just how good this act is. You do not get someone of the pedigree of Rob Aubrey mixing and mastering your work unless you have the chops to warrant it, simple as.
So, off we go with ten tracks to immerse yourself in. You can, by the way, listen to all of this before parting with your hard-earned at their Bandcamp page Moving Forward | Vamoosery (bandcamp.com) and it is also available on major streaming platforms.
We open with Prelude, a delicate introduction with some complex understated chords before the short track rocks out leading to the first of the main events, Listen. The official video is embedded below for you. This is an emotional affair, and you get that immediately from the words. I detect a Cranberries influence in this, and, indeed, White’s voice can be compared to the late and missed O’Riordan. Very good commercial modern rock music. The “we are merely moving shadows” segment is simply divine.
We have another video for Pieces, this one a couple of years old. There is some catchy funk in this, especially in those bass grooves and guitar chords. Very good pop/rock underpinned by solid riffs and playing together with some clever tempo changes therein.
Trust in You follows. This one is broodier than the preceding tracks, the mood set by some fine guitar work and mellotron before White enters with thoughtful words, the riffs underneath her having a strong post punk vibe in a track which is at turns delicate, then anthemic, then yearning. This highlights wonderfully how good the band are. Taylor is my bass player find of 2023, Nicholson & Julien produce some wonderful riffs and melodies on their strings, whilst Button packs a punch keeping the piece throbbing along on his drums.
Solid Ground is a longer track at over six minutes. It has some more of those expressive White vocals leading to a lovely heavy jazz and funk infused passage, that bass again parting the senses in its urgency. There is here also a sense of homage to classic rock, with more than a hint in the keys of Lord. The vocal harmonies are exceptionally strong in the cry to the partner, leading to some crashing drums and ghostly guitar work as the track now asserts this band’s spectrum of style in rollocking fashion, classic riffs, pop, psych. A fine piece of music. It is below. Enjoy.
Video time again for You Are Always Near. It is simply lovely and is a song born of a deeply significant life event, the passing of a loved one. Certainly, the emotion is inherently raw, especially as the keys begin to soar above the voice. White produces a contender for vocal of the year on this. I just hope it gets the airplay it deserves. Deeply moving and embedded for you below.
Do You Hear Me follows. The bass is at the heart of this underpinning some fine bewilderingly complex post rock chords, the keys remaining understated but adding a nice layer to the piece. At times, the band explode into a mix of Zeppelin, heavy chords, symphonic alt rock, and pure punk noise and fury with the result as interesting as it sounds. Sheer class, a very, very good piece of modern rock music.
The video, embedded below, for Archaeologist is interesting. This is the first single released from the album and the film features White being excavated. It is another fine track featuring some exquisite guitar notes and very clever passages of instrumental heavy music between thoughtful and melodic segments, vocal harmonies, and a wall of sound throughout. As much as anything on this album, I think this is a statement of intent, a marker put down demanding the listener take notice.
The title track is an epic, split into two distinct parts, namely Fire and Rain. Together, they make up a piece over fourteen minutes long. It is a progressive rock fan’s track, pure and simple. The piano leads some wonderful guitar and bass to start before White enters with the theme, enjoining the need to move forward. The extended instrumental draws you in, creating a surround of notes which repeat and entrance. The guitar work is at times haunting and when the band pound away the moving forward message, the impact is stunning, with a classic feel to the final seconds before we segue into Rain.
This starts with such a delicate duet between White and Taylor, looking out of the window, seeing the rain, oozing with feeling and more than a little sadness. The short guitar solo adds to this, with some very good percussion work supporting a lonely piano. The mixing on this is as good as you would expect with some effects adding to the scenery of the individual staring out before the most incredible vocal harmonies and voices in a passage worth the price of the album alone, the band backing this and then taking the stark lead, the guitar solo, soaring keys, rhythm section as the track then proceeds to a victorious denouement, the battle won, and with a flourish at that. You would need to be an automaton not to be bouncing up and down at the end of this.
The album closes with a remix of the band’s 2018 single, Running, although I was not familiar with the original. It proves that the bass playing I have waxed lyrical about is not merely a recent development, it was there from the start. This is a decent track infused with the spirit of late 1970’s new wave.
New music is critical to the continuation of this website because I love the music I write about, and that would be nothing if nobody created anything fresh. The genre would simply fade away into insignificance. A healthy respect and nod to past glories, yes, but appreciating that music and the humanity which creates it must move on, must progress, in the truest sense of the word. Vamoosery will, I hope, take their place in the vanguard of the new generation. Certainly, on the evidence of this debut, I am confident that in years to come, when they are playing to the globe, I will still be writing and saying, you know what? In 2023, I told you they were bloody good.
Incidentally, you can see them live at an album launch this Friday 1st December at Arches Venue in Coventry. Only £5 a ticket. If I lived anywhere near there, I would go.