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MesaVerde: All is Well
 MesaVerde’s latest album All is Well is an enjoyable and interesting listen. It was released via Apollon Records in late January.
The accompanying press release talked a lot about prog rock, but after having a preconceived idea of what the album might sound like planted into my brain, I found myself struggling to hear the ‘prog’. To my ears, the Norwegian 4 piece plays a style of music which I’d call ‘indie-art rock’. I would concede that there are layers of nuance in the instrumentation and arrangement that make it something more involved than the usual sort of indie rock, however, the existential question of ‘Is it Prog’ was running through my head on the numerous play-throughs. Upon reflection perhaps the reason the ‘prog’ tag doesn’t fit immediately is because of the modern tones employed by the band. The drums sound very modern, and the synth tones in particular sound like the sort of indie pop-rock that has me reaching for the off button on my FM radio.
Notwithstanding my gatekeeping OCD that wants to put this album into a strict compartment /genre, there’s no doubt it’s a decent, and intricate album. The opener "Deep Time" has a great vocal and a nice layered buildup. Tracks like "Eva" also stand out to me thanks to the tasteful guitar introduction.
If you’re after a mellow, easy listen...with enough nuance in the writing and performance to satisfy fans of progressive music, you could do a lot worse than checking out All Is Well.
Track Listing
- Deep Time
- Pyramid Fucksnake
- MomentsE
- Eva
- Tracing
- Pickings For The Beast
- Eyes
- Endurance
- Story
Added: May 20th 2024
Reviewer: Chris Reid
Score: 
Related Link: Band @ Bandcamp
Hits: 597
Language: english
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MesaVerde: All is Well
Posted by Steven Reid, SoT Staff Writer on 2024-05-20 16:40:18
My Score:
Progressive rock has always been a broad church and one that thankfully continues to grow ever wider, and yet, even I have to admit that calling the alt-pop sheen that has been delivered on All Is Well by MesaVerde ‘prog’ is a stretch that I can’t quite reach to. It’s not me calling them that, it’s their label Apollon Records and while I can kind of make links to the likes of Tim Bowness (if he was suddenly way more cheerful than he usually is) and that there’s an occasional burst of shimmering keys and darting guitars, this is pop music.
Now, don’t get me wrong there’s nothing wrong with pop music, but it has to be a little more accessible and exciting that “Pyramid Fucksnake” (what a terrible song name that is…) or the listless “Moments” are here. What doesn’t help is that the prog/pop world is a pretty crammed space these days, and the austere 80s sound that seems to make up an awful lot of what’s going on across this album is being done much better by many others. Admittedly, the opening of “Eva” hints at Yes, but in truth, these nods to prog’s past seem to blur the picture more than they do clarify proceedings, mainly due to them not really feeling like they have much connection with, for example, the dull as dishwater “Story” that closes this album out.
In truth, a lot of Apollon Records releases of late seem to veer into this pop aesthetic and while there’s definitely an audience for it, I’m not sure there’s much presented here to excite SoT regulars.
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