In the field of progressive rock, the British 'Pineapple Thief' have built up an excellent worldwide reputation, and since the beginning of the 2000s, they have regularly released albums, the latest in 2022, 'Give It Back', being a covers album and the last two reviewed on myprogmusic being 'Versions of the Truth' dating from 2020 and the live performance that followed during the pandemic, 'Nothing But The Truth', dating from 2022. We are therefore not surprised to be able to put between our ears in 2024 a new album from the British and, for this new 'It Leads To This ', my first reflex, knowing the recording quality of this training, was to listen to it on qobuz with headphones (a Monolith M1060 connected to my mini DAC FIIO BTR7) and the result is up to what I expected: quality progressive rock performed by talented artists, the sound being of rare clarity and limpidity with the new drummer 'Gavin Harrison' who has been with the Pineapple thieves now since 2016 and who delivers us a surgical strike that is always just right. As usual, 'Bruce Soord' takes us into themes around our society today, split between optimism and pessimism, with no shortage of subjects from the past few years to give him food for thought.
On the menu of this new album, 8 compositions for around 45 minutes of listening and it all begins in serenity with 'Put It Right' which already highlights the ethereal singing of 'Bruce Soord' and the subtle and while restrained by 'Gavin Harrison' who does just enough while taking a prominent place in the rhythm section. Conversely, 'Rubicon', which follows, is more energetic and shows the more intense side of the group but which plays with the alternations of intensities and rhythms, making it a typical title of a sought-after and luminous progressive. The tone is set with these first two compositions and the rest will be shared between these two atmospheres: with the eponymous title (see the video above), we delicately abandon ourselves to the quiet rhythm and the subtle and almost hypnotic singing, then the sequel gains strength to fall back into the ethereal atmosphere of the beginning. Same observation for 'The Frost' which continues in these contrasts with this time a rhythm which makes you sway quietly (see the video here), then, 'All That's Left' makes me think of the first albums of the 'Blackfield' project from the duo 'Steven Wilson'/'Aviv Geffen' with this intimate, even melancholic atmosphere, an atmosphere that we find in the following track 'Now It's Yours' which is a sort of bitter observation of what our generation will leave to our children, with this magnificent intense central instrumental section highlighting the guitar scream of 'Bruce Soord'. With 'Every Trace Of Us', we take more sought-after progressive paths with multiple rhythmic and intensity changes which further highlight 'Gavin Harrison' who makes us a festival by adapting his playing at each moment (see the video here) then, the album ends with 'To Forget' which this time brings us back to the atmospheric ambiances of 'Pink Floyd', the contrasts mentioned several times in this column are still present for our greatest pleasure.
In summary, the British from 'The Pineapple Thief' return with an album of great quality which shows that they are still in the forefront of progressive rock groups and, for all fans and all lovers of this style, 'It Leads To This' deserves to be listened to quietly on headphones with the Hi-Res version because, the 'Bruce Soord' band has once again done everything possible to offer us a multitude of details which are even more highlighted with quality listening... | |
