Schnauser

The music of the Canterbury scene in the early – mid sixties gave us some truly admirable bands such as Caravan, Egg, Soft Machine and the magnificent Robert Wyatt.
Since then many bands have picked out elements of the sound without really understanding the pastoral and utterly British nature of it.
All of which preamble leads me to a band who really do ‘get’ what those bands were about and have incorporated it into a sound that is both classic Canterbury and modern as tomorrow.

There are wistful elements to the music that bring a smile to your face as well as an occasional ‘edge’ that wakes you up and makes you look again at what is going on.

The band are brilliantly skilled musicians – Alan Strawbridge (vocals, guitars, autoharp), Duncan Gammon (Vocals, Gem Jumbo organ, Hohner pianet, glockenspiel, synths), Holly McIntosh (vocals, glockenspiel, melodica) & Jasper Williams (drums & percussion) are anything but your bog standard rock band hailing from Bristol and fully drenched in the pop-psych side of Prog (they have been nominated for the 'Limelight' new band category in the 2014 Progressive Music Awards) but the music is exciting, powerful and emotive as well as well played.

The last track on the album is a mini-opus that brings all the elements of what Schnauser is about – the whimsy, the arch-Britishness, the cleverness, sublime harmonies and melodies and the superb playing it almost seems simple until you break it down to its many, many parts – this is music as well developed as anything the Bonzo’s could do.

Bristol seems to be a hotbed of new Prog but Schnauser are definitely one of the best bands around and this is definitely one of the best listens of 2014.