Esoteric / Antenna (label)
30 September 2016 (released)
27 October 2016
Since their first appearance in 1967 Van Der Graaf Generator have never failed to disturb. As they approach their 50th anniversary as a band they are still as complex and ‘difficult’ as they ever were. This album, their 13th studio, is streets ahead of their last and suggests that the musical integrity and the intellectual passion is still very much intact.
As a three piece there is less room to over-egg the musical side and they feel closer and more intense than on their early material and the three – Peter Hammill, Hugh Banton & Guy Evans – as they approach ‘old age’ are less likely to explode musically but the darkness is still there and Hammill’s harsh and exasperated vocals set against Banton’s keyboards and driven by Evans drums draw the listener in as they always were capable of.
You will never listen to VDGG for an easy background sound but as you delve into the album you will find reminiscences and a sense of looking back – much as many of their long term fans and supporters will be engaging in.
Surprisingly, this is NOT a depressing or gloomy album; rather this is a proud statement that “we are still here and we did this”. Musically they chop and change rhythms and riffs taking the listener along wrong paths time after time – just as you think you have the handle on the music they– and have always – shake your grasp on the obvious.
There are 9 tracks here and every one makes it’s own statement about the state of their minds. From ‘Aloft’ suggesting they are being lifted by the winds of their collective histories and through European travel and coming of age in ‘Alfa Berliner’ or the bleak and dark ‘Room 1210’ and on to the rocky and strident ‘Forever Falling’.
This may sound as though there is no humour in the album but that would be untrue. The insouciant pink panther-esque walking riff of ‘(Oh No! I Must Have Said)Yes’ with a guitar in the background strangling chords is quite superb and there is no sense anywhere of desperation or despair.
It stands up well against the music they have made since reforming and pretty well against their classic period material. After around a dozen listens I am still being caught out and finding new paths – a truly excellent album.
