UK Prog Rockers The Tangent release their brand new studio album, “To Follow Polaris,” through InsideOut Music on May 10, 2024 and the band have shared a new lyric video for their brand new single, the aptly titled “The Single.” Watch the video through the YouTube player below:
“The Single was originally recorded by my previous band Po90 some 25 years ago now, on an album called The Time Capsule,” explains Tangent mainman Andy Tillison. “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…“
“To Follow Polaris” sees Tillison manning the band entirely alone while his usual bandmates were busy working with other projects, although Tillison is at pains to point out that that the unique situation surrounding the recording of “To Follow Polaris” is a one-off.
“The album is intended to be thought of as a regular Tangent album – but not as the future of the band,” he states. “It’s everyone’s intention to make the FOURTEENTH album as The Tangent. For Five.”
“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) and as a digital album.
Pre-order now here: https://thetangent.lnk.to/ToFollowPolaris
Tracklist:
1.The North Sky 11:36
2.A ‘Like’ In The Darkness 08:19
3.The Fine Line 08:04
4.The Anachronism 21:01
5.The Single (From A Re-Opened Time Capsule) 05:51
6.The North Sky (Radio Edit) 03:42
7.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 controller and this is a full band recording in every sense of the word. A recording which 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. It’s everyone’s intention to make the FOURTEENTH album as The Tangent. For Five.
