Classy outfit, The Bardic Depths, returned in March 2024 with their third album, What We Really Like In Stories, and the winner of my “classic English prog track of 2024” award is the title track.

To quote from my review of the album:

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.