UNITED PROGRESSIVE FRATERNITY

Planetary Overload Part 1: Loss GianT eleCTriC pea

Environmental concerns broadcast via a huge cast-list.

Climate change sceptics and those with more Catholic musical tastes may wish to avert their eyes and ears. Seldom has an album release proved more timely than this. United Progressive Fraternity’s second album Planetary Overload Part 1: Loss arrives considerably behind its original schedule but hot on the heels of protests in cities around the world organised by Extinction Rebellion, designed to highlight concerns about climate change and other ills visited upon the planet by mankind. United Progressive Fraternity have adopted a thoroughly clunky name; but it communicates their raison d’être more accurately than any more abstract or exotic nomenclature could. Equally the album is a signpost for the album’s contents and conveying the musical collective’s core message, it couldn’t be clearer.

UPF are led by vocalist Mark Trueack – formerly of the much-missed Unitopia – and multi-instrumentalist Steve Unruh. However they are supplemented by a veritable army of other musicians spread internationally around the globe. As such Planetary Overload… runs the risk of the whole constituting less than the sum of its parts. But to the credit of producers Trueack and Unruh that pitfall is avoided, with the 11 tracks here proving satisfyingly cohesive despite no fewer than 13 writers being involved.

Stylistically, UPF have largely forged their own sonic identity – no mean feat given the diverse array of talent involved. A handful of familiar names pop up across the LP; Yes singer Jon Davison’s vocals are immediately recognisable on the scene setting title track, which opens this 75-minute album, and he crops up again towards the album’s conclusion on the almost 20-minute Seeds For Life. That song, the album’s tour de force, also showcases the talents of Steve Hackett, former Hackett keyboardist Nick Magnus, Damanek’s Dan Mash and Marek Arnold and Mystery’s Michel St-Père.

But alongside the big and medium-sized names, there are numerous comparative unknowns whose deft musicianship makes this album such a delight. There’s a vast range of instruments deployed, as UPF embrace French horn, sitar, oud, saz, bouzouki, flugelhorn, dulcimer and zither (many by the hand of Knifeworld’s Charlie Cawood). Such a cornucopia might look gratuitous on paper but Trueack and Unruh have made some careful and astute musical choices.

Unsurprisingly perhaps there’s a world music flavour to some of the material but it’s very apposite given UPF’s fundamental aim. Their message may not be subtle but it’s compellingly communicated.

SATISFYINGLY COHESIVE DESPITE 13 WRITERS BEING INVOLVED.