Daidrum is the project of David Foster, and before we go into detail about the music and the man, an explanation of where the name comes from would be useful.

In the village where I live in West Wales, I am Steve (or Laz) Tax, so the name followed by the occupation, and thus, Foster gained this when a drummer in Welsh band, Eight Miles High in the late 1980’s.

All at Sea is Foster’s second album, released in April, but only recently brought to my attention. At this stage of the review, I would wish to offer my sincere condolences to David, who tragically lost his eldest daughter last year. As he says, music is a therapy in such circumstances.

The lineup here is Foster on vocals, guitar, keyboards, and percussion; Hannah Foster, backing vocals and flute; Emily Foster, Hannah Johnson, and Layla Armini, backing vocals; and Chris Haigh on fiddle/violin.

At its core, what we have here is some special melodic progressive rock, but it will also please those, like me, who enjoy the more pastoral roots aspect of the genre, combined with some psych, traditional shanties, and, indeed, commercial music.

For more details and, of course, how to obtain this music, pop along to David’s website at https://daidrummusic.com/ Also, see the Bandcamp page at https://daidrum1.bandcamp.com/album/all-at-sea

So, nine tracks on just short of an hour’s music. Let’s discuss.

Trafalgar Blues discusses the horrors of The Battle of Trafalgar, specifically a young man serving aboard HMS Belleisle, dismasted by the enemy, but able to survive until reached by rescuing allied ships. Immediately, Haigh creates an atmosphere with his fiddle, Foster impresses with his evocative guitar, and I really like the harmonies between the female voices and Foster, the song transporting the listener back in time to a definitive battle in this country’s history, a progressive shanty to be sure, the closing passage particularly mournful.

There for You references the practice of placing coins over the eyes of the dead dating back to ancient Greece, to pay Charon for crossing the River Styx on one’s passage to the other side, but this song is one of determination to support a loved one through pain and challenge, enduring it with her, memories of her growing, learning, a paeon to the love and pride felt even through the challenges of adolescence. There is a lightness of touch on this track I have grown to adore in repeated listens, the love coming across so clearly, some really pretty piano and guitar notes with a light soundscape above them, the main guitar solo bursting out of the speakers with pride.

I have embedded a video for Run below. It is a story about the racehorse, Shergar, a Derby winner, cruelly kidnapped, and never seen again, an entirely innocent victim of gangsterism, terrorism, sheer hatred and greed. What a sad day, indeed. I detect the mournful mellotron and Haigh working so beautifully in tandem, anger inherent in the vocals and dissonant notes, the fiddle adding so much drama, and then Hannah Foster introducing her expressive flute work, swirling and whirling alongside the mellotron. This track is a favourite of 2025, absolutely in contention for an award on this website’s review of the year, impossible to pigeonhole, operatic in its scope, the ability to utilise gaps in surround noise to emphasise a musical message impressive. Folk rock at its finest, the commentary on the winning race wistful and tragic.

Merry Go Round. Love Lost. Love Found. The Merry Go Round of life. There is a YouTube remix of this available, and it is also embedded below for you. There is some nice percussion work on this against bright guitar work and some wonderful harmonies with effects rumbling in the background, vocals strongly trading blows with each other as we reach a dramatic conclusion.

Lonely Planet is interesting lyrically, I think both praising and expressing sadness for the planet we live on, and how, in particular, humanity interacts with it, and, as we know, some massive damage done, shattering the dreams of children with waste, literally shitting on the beauty it has to offer, but expressing hope that, in the end, we and it will be alright. Once again, the insistence of Foster’s guitar work impresses, and we have the treat of a dirty Hammond to tell us a story of a planet’s pain, some more fine harmonies, the female voices adding so much on this album, the feel of the song becoming an interesting fusion between the orchestral prog and classic, psych influenced, rock, referencing our finest moment, stepping on the moon, with the thought that we can still reach the stars if only we allow ourselves to do so.

Breathe is beautiful, expressions of love, hope, ambition for a newborn instantly recognisable to all of us as parents, live your life, dream, and love. There is some fine interaction between guitar and piano, more gentle synth soundscapes, and female choral voices adding to the sense of hope, deep flute, mellotron, so much packed into six minutes of music veering between classic progressive music and pastoral folk alongside some strong symphonic senses, Foster shining in his insistence that the child lives its own life, the final third then veering into jazz fusion territory, the keys, bass, and guitar interacting so well together, a rush of emotion as we reach the close with a stirring guitar riff. Superb.

Salt Requiem strikes me as a loving tribute to those, through the ages, who have risked their lives at sea to protect us from invasion, heroes all, our sons of bitches, not the type you would invite around for a dinner party but certainly would want on your side in an existential struggle. Violin, cello, guitar, insistent beat captures the excitement and drama of those voyages, sailors bound together in a common purpose, salt stinging their eyes, the track again cleverly expressing differing emotions in tone and strength of noise, the common ground chorus particularly stirring, violin and brass instrumentation leading the heroes charge.

Nether Street is the penultimate track. There is a street by this name in Finchley, North London (think Arsenal FC, and you aren’t that far away), a microcosm of our wider, now extremely diverse, society. Musically and vocally, the song portrays the chaos of the modern city, the incessant rhythm of a constantly busy life.

We close with Song of Time, reaching across the centuries, different lives, values, beliefs, but bound together in recognising the past and hoping for the future. It is an epic track and, indeed, the piano, violin, and guitar at the start signify that progressive intent, a gorgeous noise. The synths are strong, the guitar quietly wailing, the harmonies once more charming our senses, with a female lead intoxicating in a psych filled mid-passage. As we move to the denouement, we get a vocal procession, female and male voices competing in the miracle of life, spacey, dreamy, and futuristic.

All at Sea is an adventurous, deeply listenable work which draws the listener into the writer’s world with ease. I have really enjoyed listening to and writing about an honest, very well recorded, and interesting album.

Recommended.