The Bardic Depths, a project founded in 2020 by American historian Brad Birzer and Dave Bandana, return with their third album, What We Really Like In Stories, released on their new Bardic Depths Music label on 7th March 2024. Once again, the band have the incredible Robin Armstrong (Cosmograf) handling the mixing & mastering duties, and the band lineup remains as Bandana, Gareth Cole, (One Sided Horse, Fractal Mirror), Peter Jones (Tiger Moth Tales, Camel, Cyan) and Tim Gehrt (Streets, Steve Walsh).
This fascinating album does not have a concept story, but rather a returning theme of references to authors and their stories. Of note, in addition to the music, is the artwork by Kevin Thompson, quite lovely. You can pre-order this album digitally at Bandcamp https://thebardicdepths.bandcamp.com/album/what-we-really-like-in-stories-24bit-96k or the CD at www.gravitydream.co.uk and this website strongly recommends that lovers of quality music do just that.
So, lets discuss the work in detail.
We open with an overarching thematic instrumental, Genius, written by Bandana and featuring him on keys & orchestration, with Cole providing a fine guitar riff. Grandiose, loud, proud, and one minute full of intention.
The title track written by Bandana and Birzer has an official lyric video, and this is embedded below. It is about a conversation in 1936 between J R R Tolkien and C S Lewis, two classic 20th century British authors whose stories are beloved by not merely fantasy novel fans, but also those who love language expressing philosophy, history, and religion, the protagonists dissatisfied with the lack of stories which spoke to their core being and beliefs, and thus created their own works. They were very close friends and, indeed, Lewis has been described as the midwife of Lord of the Rings. There is such a playful quality to this pastoral fusion track, which simply brings a smile to my face each time I listen. The lead voice of the incredible Peter Jones is pitched at just the right level, friendly, conversational, and whilst writers will seek to state that it sounds like this band, or is reminiscent of that period, to my ears it is a piece which takes its love of classic English progressive rock into a thoroughly unique plain, in much the same manner as Big Big Train have over the years.
You’ve Written Poetry My Boy also has a video, and you can see this below. It tells the story of Ray Bradbury, whose Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles (a personal favourite) are rightly regarded as classics of the science fiction genre, and references Aldous Huxley’s words to him. Cole shares the writing credits on this with Bandana & Birzer, and Bandana provides us with the lead vocal. As soon as you hear that 12-string guitar and woodwind, you know you are in for a treat. The Hollywood scenes and words are an interesting counterpoint to today’s online social media celeb world. The sax of Jones drips with feeling in a beautiful pastoral track with more than a feel of psychedelic pop rock to it.
Vendetta is about English author Alan Moore, who wrote a series of graphic novels, V For Vendetta amongst them. It will be a definite contender for my annual “Track of the Year” award. Written by Bandana, Cole, and Birzer, all four members of the band share vocal credits on this nine-minute track, which has a distinctly harder edge to it than the preceding ones, and the harmonies are a true highlight of the 2024 musical year thus far. Of note is the exceptional bass melody Bandana creates, and the late 60’s feel to the main theme alongside some very powerful electric guitar breaks, and a sax solo which takes the breath away before a wonderfully constructed extended instrumental closing passage which throws everything this band has at the listener, including, incidentally, a rather loving nod to the late, great, Gerry Rafferty. I was never into graphic novels, and I really must start to explore this world.
Old Delights is about American Pulitzer Prize winner, Willa Cather, who wrote about life on the Great Plains. It is a short track, less than three minutes long. Jones provides a lovely lead vocal, and Cole & Bandana provide for a sparse recollection of the author’s world. Short, but very clever, and very moving.
Robert E Howard is a name familiar to all classic era comic book lovers. His creation, Conan The Barbarian, was a favourite of my formative adult years, and the movie adaptation catapulted Arnold Schwarzenegger to fame in the 1980’s. He committed suicide at the horribly young age of 30, and The Feast is Over references his suicide note. As one who has experienced suicide in the extended family, the words “The feast is over, the lamps expire” do really resonate with me. The choral effects and Richard Krueger’s church organ at the start are particularly powerful. Vocally and thematically, this song reminds me strongly of The Bee Gee’s New York Mining Disaster 1941, and it stands comparison to that seminal work as an example of how to translate tragedy into something of beauty. The slide guitar is quite astounding.
Stillpoint is about American author, Walter M Miller Jr, who wrote several science fiction short stories in outlets such as the classic Amazing Stories, and had just the one novel published whilst alive, A Canticle for Leibowitz. The track features some pretty and interesting programming, the alto sax of Jones perfectly accompanying his and Bandana’s lead vocals. This is a smoky and reflective piece of music, again dealing with a subject who took his own life, shooting himself shortly after his wife’s death, but had also suffered stress because of his wartime experiences.
We finish with Whispers in Space, which is about Robert Rankin, a British author of comedic fantasy novels who is thankfully still with us. Martin Haskell provides us with the narration, Amy Stewart with the spoken word, and the band give us a suitably epic ten-minute track to close the album. Bluesy guitar bursts, jazzy rhythm, expressive lead vocals, frenzied in parts keys, smoky sax, changing pace and mood deftly in a piece which concentrates the mind and showcases all that is good about this outfit, encapsulating influences ranging from the classic to the modern, Floyd through to BBT, via Marillion, but rather unlike anything you will have heard from anyone else. The final three minutes with The Captain of the Sky Flying Again takes the emotion up to another level.
It is only the seventh week of the new year, and yet again I am publishing a review of an album I regard as being pretty much an essential purchase. 2024 might be young, but it is already shaping up to be an exceptional year. What We Really Like In Stories will rank amongst the year’s seminal releases, of that I have no doubt. A pleasure from start to finish.