The Tangent (For One) launch ‘The Single’ – next track taken from ‘To Follow Polaris’

10th April 2024 0 By Jon Deaux

The Tangent recently announced the release of the new studio album ‘To Follow Polaris’ on the 10^th of May 2024 (InsideOutMusic). That’s not necessarily a surprise, that’s what the band is known for. But at the same time, it’s something else too. As Andy jokes, playing on the Jaws strapline, he says “Well this time it’s actually no personnel”.

Andy comments on the track: “’The Single’ was originally recorded by my previous band Po90 some 25 years ago now, on an album called ‘The Time Capsule’. In the spirit of that time capsule, I opened it a quarter of a century later and recorded this updated version of it with new lyrics added to the older version. The old Po90 version was the track that in a way defined what the Tangent would be and giving it the Tangent treatment was a great pleasure. It’s a song about the documenting of history and the new ways this is going to happen, both good and bad…”
In a year when members of The Tangent could be seen onstage all over the world with Steve Hackett, Soft Machine, Karnataka, David Cross, It Bites, Cyan and others, plus on recordings by those artists and The Anchoret, The Michael Dunn Project, Argos and Retreat From Moscow, it became clear that there was not going to be time to get together for anything more than one gig in April 2023.

So the band agreed that the band’s leader/main writer Andy Tillison would keep the material coming and would make an album by The Tangent entirely alone. It would still be The Tangent. Just for one.

“Besides Which” Andy says, “I’ve always wanted to do this, use what I have learned from Luke, Jonas, Steve, Theo, and many other alumni and take it to final production. Now was the time!”

What transpired over the following year is in one sense an “absolutist” solo album and is entirely the work of one person in all aspects including artwork, layout, design, lyrics, composition, performance, recording, production, mixing, mastering, and authoring. But in another sense, it’s totally Tangent. “I could not have begun to make this record without having had the experience of working with the band. So although the different instruments are not attempted to be played in the actual style of the normal lineup, they are inspired by the kind of things these guys do”

‘To Follow Polaris’ will be available as a Limited Deluxe Collector’s Edition CD Mediabook (including bonus track and extensive 24-page booklet, Gatefold 180g 2LP vinyl (also including bonus track), & as a Digital Album. Pre-order now here: https://thetangent.lnk.to/ToFollowPolaris

The North Sky 11:36
A ‘Like’ In The Darkness 08:19
The Fine Line 08:04
The Anachronism 21:01
The Single (From A Re-Opened Time Capsule) 05:51
The North Sky (Radio Edit) 03:42
Tea At Bettys (Bonus Track) 17:32

Produced between January and November 2023, the album features Andy using his multiple keyboards system as normal but adds to the mix his first-ever released performance on Bass Guitar and his second on stick-driven (electronic) drums. Add electric and acoustic guitars and electronic wind controllers and this is a full band recording in every sense of the word. A recording that shows Andy’s lifelong influence by artists such as Yes, Van Der Graaf Generator, Porcupine Tree, Groove Armada, Earth Wind & Fire, Roger Waters, and his bands, Return To Forever, Deep Purple, Gentle Giant, Steely Dan and any band featuring the keyboard player Dave Stewart.

Conceptually Andy claims the album is, ahem, “highly optimistic” but regular listeners to his work will anticipate correctly that this optimism will not be ill-founded or over-easy and will be highly critical of obstacles to that optimism and the album will look as much into the dark as it does into the light.

The album is intended to be thought of as a regular Tangent album – but not as the future of the band. Everyone intends to make the FOURTEENTH album as The Tangent. For Five.

The Tangent online:
www.thetangent.org