Tag Archives: Modern prog

Modern Proggers The Contortionist release video for ‘Primordial Sound’

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Melancholic progressive rock band The Contortionist, who hail from Indianapolis, have released a video for the track ‘Primordial Sound’, taken from the album Language (eOne), an album rated 9/10 by Ghost Cult on its release earlier in the year (review here)

The band, who are currently on tour round Europe with Protest The Hero, teamed up once again with director Corey Norman who had worked on the bands previous video, to produce a consciously stripped down and minimalistic video focusing on the band members performing the song.

Guitarist Robby Baca states “I had so much fun writing that song! I can’t wait to share this video with everyone. The director did a fantastic job for us. The visual elements are extremely important to us and this is a video that we feel exemplifies the overall vibe that we are going for.” 

 

 

 

The Contortionist on Facebook

 

Steve Tovey

 

 

 


Build A World Part III – Bruce Soord of The Pineapple Thief

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In the final part of 3 part feature on The Pineapple Thief and their excellent new album, Magnolia (KScope), songwriter Bruce Soord spoke to Ghost Cult Magazine about songwriting and side projects…

 

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“It does take a long time, you can’t force it. I have a guitar lying around and when inspiration is dished out then I just pick up the guitar and go. The thing is if you don’t get that magic, that spark immediately then its not going to come if you work at it, you just have to put it aside and leave it for the time being.

“I think it was about 18 months, the song writing. It was a real labour of love.”

The song writing process for Magnolia in actual fact began shortly after the previous album All The Wars (Kscope) was finished giving an indication of how long the process is. Of course this period of time did also see the realisation of Soord’s long awaiting Wisdom Of Crowds side project with Jonas Renske of Katatonia fame. “That has been gestating for a long time, about four years, so that was something I was dipping in and out of with the guy I was writing with. That wasn’t so hard because they were pretty much finished, we just didn’t have the vocals, so getting Jonas down to sing was relatively easy.”

Speaking of Wisdom Of Crowds, and cementing Soord’s reputation was one of prog’s most active components, he confirms that there is more to come from that particular project: “There will be a WoC 2, hopefully next year depending on their time with Katatonia because I know they are planning on the new album… It’s going to be a different this time because Jonas is writing as well. He has already sent me some stuff and ideas, so it’s actually started.”

If this wasn’t enough to have surely earned Soord some time with a cup of tea and slippers, he has also recently finished touring with Katatonia as guitarist on their unplugged tour in support of their stripped down effort Dethroned And Uncrowned (Snapper), an experience that Soord is very appreciative of. “It was great fun, for one the Katatonia guys are hilarious to be on tour with and two, not being the frontman, just the guy at the back who does acoustics is just so easy. It was so relaxed, I could sleep easy.”

This experience touring with a band with a more overtly metal audience (one that is still shared with the prog crowd), plus expressing elsewhere his admiration and love for the likes of King Diamond and other extreme metal acts shows Soord as music lover with a wide taste. Unsurprisingly however it is clear that Prog is where his heart resides the most, and there is one musical venture that he is keen to explore. “The thing I am quite keen to do, whether it will ever see the light of day, is a solo album that’s just me but very much designed for the studio and is a lot more cinematic. Not symphonic, but something very progressive in the sense of long pieces not worried about the verse, chorus song structure and delving into the broad influences I have without worrying about how we are going to do this live.”

Clearly Soord is one of the most musically passionate presences in contemporary rock and prog, and this is perhaps why it is so easy to find that emotional connection to his music; not just because of the familiarity of his music’s tales and feeling, but because he is a hungry music lover, just like the rest of us.

 

The Pineapple Thief on Facebook

 

Words by CHRIS TIPPELL

 

Read our review of Magnolia here

 


Build A World Part II – Bruce Soord of The Pineapple Thief

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In part 2 of our 3 part feature, The Pineapple Thief frontman Bruce Soord spoke to Ghost Cult about the positive impact of change on their new album, Magnolia, which is out now on KScope.

 

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The shorter, more to the point song durations on Magnolia do hint at the band feeling rejuvenated and refocused and a prime factor for the band’s returning sense of energy according to Soord (but not a direct influence on the song’s shorter structures) is the arrival of new drummer Dan Osbourne. “When he came in he gave us all a massive kick up the backside because we… I wouldn’t say we were resting on our laurels as we didn’t have a laurel to rest on, but I think we were going on a tough time, and some things happened that led to previous drummer (Keith Harrison) leaving. Dan came in and brought such an energy.”

The presence of brand new personnel can often reignite the spark within a band and Osbourne was certainly no different. “He listened to our entire back catalogue and reminded me of stuff that I used to do that I had forgotten about. There’s a lot more guitar on Magnolia and a lot of lush layers that I used to do that maybe I had let go of, especially on Someone Here is Missing (Kscope) which I guess was a lot more brash and raw, so we have sort of gone back to more lush arrangements. And I think he brought in a lot more quality control and attention to detail in terms of production. He’s been a really good shot in the arm.”

In fact, the addition of Osbourne to the fold is something that Soord describes as being of huge importance, despite his previous work in vastly different musical realms. “His background was pop session work. Obviously he has a knowledge of the music industry and he has a studio in his flat, so he knows what he is talking about. It was nice to get him from a completely fresh perspective, kind of like Phil Collins when he joined Genesis, its like this guy comes in and shakes it all up.”

Soord continues: “He started asking questions and pushing me further than I would normally push myself, which is a perfect attribute of a producer, getting better results out of me.”

With his pop history you might expect that Osbourne was influential in giving the album a more accessible direction, but Soord points out that the song writing began long before his arrival, in what turned out to be a drawn out and arduous process. “It does take a long time, you can’t force it. I have a guitar lying around and when inspiration is dished out then I just pick up the guitar and go. The thing is if you don’t get that magic, that spark immediately then its not going to come if you work at it, you just have to put it aside and leave it for the time being. I think it was about 18 months, the song writing. It was a real labour of love.”

 

The Pineapple Thief on Faceboo

 

CHRIS TIPPELL