I only know Nad Sylvan as the frontman for Steve Hackett and his ‘Genesis Revisited’ tours. Nad has a voice that sits perfectly in that Peter Gabriel/Phil Collins Venn Diagram so he is definitely the best choice for that particular gig. However, as I have now discovered, he has a long and significant career, both as a solo artist, in bands such as Agents Of Mercy and Unifaun, and also in many collaborations. A busy guy.
He has had seven previous solo albums but, in his own words he has by now cultivated such a solid fan base that he feels that “they deserve to know who I truly am”.
Very much in the Prog genre but this eschews odd time signatures and fantastical themes in place of a strongly personal album, full of exposures into who Nad Sylvan is and where he comes from.
The list of supporting musicians is extensive and brilliant – names such as Tony Levin, Nick Beggs, Jonas Reingold, Marco Minneman, Felix Lehrmann – Prog rock royalty. The album was written entirely by Nad and he Produced, engineered and mixed the album as well.
All that is the what, but what about the music? Setting aside the lyrical content for a moment, the playing throughout is exceptional. As you would expect when musicians of the like above are featured, the music is played to perfection. What I didn’t expect was just how good a musician Sylvan is himself. Whether keyboards, acoustic and electric guitars or, on the ‘bonus’ track ‘Unkillable’ where he also plays bass and drums, he seems remarkably competent. The tracks vary throughout from the heavy riffery of ‘Secret Lover’ and ‘That’s Not Me’ or the piano led Genesis-like ballad of the title track or the funky awkwardness of ‘I’m Stepping Out’ (featuring Joe Deninzon on violin).
But the lyrical content is crucial, and it doesn’t fall down there either. As stated before, this is an album that is personal to Sylvan, and the lyrics point to different parts of his history. ‘Monumentata’ is a song specifically to his feelings about the death of his parents – professional tennis players who had little time for young children – but most parts of the album relate to that relationship.
It is a really fine album and all the better with the lyric booklet included.
