Malcolm Galloway and Mark Gatland – otherwise known as Hats Off Gentlemen it’s Adequate – have a quite superb new album out named The Light of Ancient Mistakes.
I wasn’t aware a new album was imminent until an envelope arrived a few days ago which look like it had a CD in there. On opening it was the new CD directly from Malcolm and I’m grateful to him for sending it to me.
As always, Malcolm’s wife Kathryn pops up with some timely flute contributions to add to the genre-defying music expertly conjured up by Malcolm and Mark. To paraphrase a character from an old yet still popular science fiction franchise: it’s prog, Jim, but not as we know it…….
Generally HOGIA are prog at the core. However here on The Light of Ancient Mistakes as with their previous albums all sorts of other stuff comes in too making quite the varied and interesting listen.
This one isn’t their usual concept style. That said the running theme is that many of the tracks have been inspired by various books.
Musically and lyrically this album is one which draws you in and makes you think a bit too with the intelligent lyrics and the instrumental tracks mix things up nicely.
Check out the opener – We Sold the Peace. Malcolm’s slightly edgy vocal delivery and Mark’s precise bass lines work so well together. Reminds me a bit of say of what Peter Hamill might have done on The Future Now if you remember that far back.
The early instrumentals in the running order at first listen seem to be stripped back and largely ambient – though the more listens the more the hidden complexities are found. On instrumentals – the three part Anxiety Machine is nicely varied between the individual parts. And on Goodbye Cassini, Kathryn’s flute playing is eerily emotional.
They can rock it up a bit too. I’m Tired and Everything Hurts for example. A short, pulsing rocker with pace and bite. Have a listen:
Now – the real winner on an album full of winners is Walking to Aldebarn. Five seconds shy of nine minutes long and somehow building in a bit of everything as it sweeps along twisting this way and that with the changing styles from prog to ambient to everything else and back again. Van Der Graaf at their peak for a comparison perhaps – though with a modern twist. Breathtaking.
The Man Who Japed is fun. Then the haunting Burn the World closes things out featuring a nicely paced guitar solo over the atmospherics.
Around a seventy minute running time none of which disappoints.
Thanks again to Malcolm for the surprise review copy. Prog fan or not, do check out the band. You can do that via the links below and pick up The Light of Ancient Mistakes and their other stuff from their BandCamp page:
https://hatsoffgentlemen.com
https://hatsoffgentlemen.bandcamp.com/album/the-light-of-ancient-mistakes