The brainchild of Marillion’s Steve Rothery and Tangerine Dream man Thorsten Quaeschning. Aided and abetted by the drums and percussion of Alex Reeves they explore a series of instrumental pieces with varying degrees of texture building and typically chill-inducing Rothery-isms.

At one extreme, Kaleidoscope provides a more accessible Post Rock style – the guitar shimmers in the way Marillion songs have been decorated over the recent decades. At the other, the seventeen minutes of Vanishing Point flies the flag for the duo’s ambition, the climax surfacing around the five or six minute mark rolling downhill in calm after the storm fashion.

There are plenty of moments for each to shine individually. The title track for example, sees a bouncy sequence set up as the base on which to build some guitar and keyboard lines while Bioscope comes over all ambient and glassy, adding to the overall cinematic mood and philosophy that underpins a classy piece of work.

Thunder’s Luke Morley (guitarist, songwriter, and producer) heads off in solo mode, following up Songs From The Blue Room in shiny suited and booted fashion.

Not falling too far from the tree, Walking On Water finds him in a feelgood mood and it’s hard to not get caught up in a set of four minute gems that swing from finding him effusing about being on a Natural High to chilling at the back end of the album, coming down with an intimate acoustic In Your Light.

Along the way, Luke delivers in spades with lots of fine guitar work in the harder Rock vein. Texas, almost inevitably, has a cool Southern Rock/Country vibe in an album packed with earworms and hooks check out the guitar figure from Always A Saturday Night, the full on romping stomping Bullets (not far form Glam Rocking in the 21st Century) and the insistent New Wave vibe to Snakeskin Parachute.

An album that might fall under the radar but if you know, you know – tell those that don’t.

Riding the wave after an appearance at Back To The Beginning, the sixth album from Lzzy Hale and her gang comes as the closest thing to an autobiography in song as poss. “The story of our journey as a band, full of beautiful endings and new beginnings,” says Lzzy.

The promise of a tangled web of melancholy, frustration, anger, and the vast purgatory of love and love lost. It is a rollercoaster of epic musical detours, great songwriting and completely unhinged twists and turns. From the aggressive firepower and musical box charm contained within Fallen Star to the emotion and angst represented by the title track and Darkness Always Wins and then a return with the fearsome war cry of “Watch out! This bitch is out for blood!” Everest is quite some collection. Pride of place might be the brooding presence of Broken Doll or the anthemic How Will You Remember Me.

However, with Lzzy declaring Everest as an auditory representation of the 4 pillars of Halestorm there’s an almost religious overtone.

A record contract with Real World is quite a coup, and not something that comes around that often. Clearly the duo of Owen Spafford and Louis Campbell caught some ears with their debut, 2022’s You, Golden, sufficient for them to build even further on that template. Traditional tunes remain but the starting point for their often startling interpolations, fragmenting melodies down into spiky constituents of treated guitar and fiddle.

It isn’t songs or dance music in any received fore-knowledge, but, if you let it take you out of any expectations, it will deliver a bounty of post-modern, post-rock with tonal elements often more akin to jazz than folk. Campbell’s guitar is more around texture than tunes, that aspect is left more to Spafford’s fiddle, in turns both pastoral and punishing.

Sporadic support is added by the bass of Ben Nicholls and the bass clarinet of Alex Lyon, with drums from producer, Sean Rogan appearing on one track. If you enjoy challenging and vibrant, this has your name on it.

Four years since hide was heard from these Kenten folk-proggers and, praise be, little has altered, in that their influences remain locked into the grooves of the late 1970’s. It is true, the subject matter of their “technicolour folk” songs come from a pre-electric age, even if the instrumental wallop relies on that invention.

The core of the band remains the same, if with a further change in drummer, but otherwise it is the instrumental charge of fiddle and lead guitar, resonating around the (mainly) vocals of violinist, Ellen Dear, except when axeman, yes, this is axe, Matt Dear, takes the mic. As ever, the gap between they and the rhythm section is held together by Greg Ireland; mandolin, harp, keyboards, all that and more.

Mainly their own songs, there are a couple of trad.arrs, including one of paired morris tunes, taking them from a tangent quite different from the usual folk-rock. If Caravan and Canterbury were defining references last time, now it is the rockier guitar tropes of Wishbone Ash that are blowing in. Freely. And I’m all for that.

An unusual combination of Prog Metal and Jazz Fusion (make up your own genre name…). With guests Richard Henshell from Haken and Sungazers Jared Yee, the selection adds a more intense eclectic flavour.

So yes – aggressive intensity (check). Improvisational spirit (check), and the duo of Nicolò and Federico Vese manage to refine the parts in an impressive blend of genres with possibly as many notes crammed in as you’re likely to hear this side of Summer. Henshell is right at home; up , down and around the fretboard as he buys into the mood.

Dancing Through Contradictions may be the key track, doing exactly that and summing up the album and philosophy in a mere five and a half minutes. From the sprightly and jazzy piano and handclaps to a devastating assault, and back and forth between the two with some brassy interjections, busy basslines and brain dazzling time signatures, reinforcing the general feel of not knowing what to expect from one minute to the next. In that sense a challenge, yet one that often reaps surprising rewards.

In between celebrating some of his pioneering electronic music and landmark albums from the late Seventies and into the Eighties, Gary Numan has been actively touring his more recent and similarly impressive work.

The tour for the Intruder album saw him entertaining us with the production squeezed at The Albert Hall in Manchester. The Wembley show however looks huge and befitting of a show of such scale. It’s a kitchen sink job too with all three Numan girls, Persia, Raven and Echo, making appearances with Gazelle Twin joining for The Gift and Russell Bell, Tim Muddinman and Chris Payne doing turns.

A fair split between the more recent solo work and the Tubeway Army/early solos, makes for a comprehensive set. A personal preference leans towards the Savage / Pure / Intruder / Dead Son Rising music, but the show (darling) is a triumph as Gazza continues to enjoy a (deserved) Indian Summer.

The first live album from Bywater Call, and if Slash’s recommendation to always start with a band’s live album ringing in our ears, the BC brand of Roots, Rock & Soul might just be the shot of inspiration and revelation that twists the arm.

Six tracks do the job of showcasing their blend of passionate Soul and R’n’B Bring Me Down and an outstanding take on Stephen Stills’ Love The One You’re With heading towards ten minutes apiece of extended experimentation where the band gets into a genuine groove. The latter in particular builds in intensity as guitar and brass feed off one another in the excitement of creation before Meghan Parnell returns with an energetic “Love the one you’re with” refrain.

The chance to take a breather with some Bluesy or gospel tinged breakdowns – check the intro to Sign Of Peace – more often than not results in a second wind and re-energised return, be it to a New Orleans swing and swagger or a organ fuelled feast. Never underestimate the power of soul.