LIFESIGNS AIM HIGH WITH ALTITUDE
Latest line-up weren’t able to meet before working on melodic proggers’ third album.
Lifesigns’ newly released third album, Altitude, is a deliberate attempt to aim high in more ways than one, vocalist and keyboardist John Young says.
It’s the melodic proggers’ first record with drummer Zoltán Csörsz, who replaced Martin ‘Frosty’ Beadle last year. And although the latest line-up haven’t physically met yet, the musical connection was instant and seamless.
“I sent tracks out to a few drummers and most of them said they’d get back to me in a few weeks,” Young says. “Zoltán sent his back in three hours. He said, ‘You know you’re the band I’ve been looking for?’ I said the gig was his.”
While Csörsz, bassist Jon Poole and guitarist Dave Bainbridge got to laying down their tracks, Young and sound engineer Steve Rispin spent “months on the minutae”, making sure the spirit of Altitude was reflected in a deliberately bright and airy mix. “One of the things we concentrate on is making sure you can focus on any instrument on a song and you’ll hear it all the way through,” Young says, adding: “The music contains a lot of joy. Even if it’s a sad song you get something from it that perks you up.”
He’s been pleased to read positive reports about the 15-minute title track and the 10-minute Fortitude. “Everybody could solo until the cows come home, but we don’t do that,” he reports. “You can show what you can do in the songs, but you have to keep it in the songs. And Zoltán got that from day one – he leaves whole sections out where he doesn’t play.”
In addition to Lifesigns’ fan-driven business model leading to Marillion comparisons, the new album also bears similarities to Steely Dan, and Young happily accepts both. “We’re trying to do important work,” he says, condemning the current fashion of devaluing music. “I’ve got nothing against technology that delivers the music. But when people ask if I can make my music cheaper, I say, ‘Well, I can’t just download fuel for my car!’ I’ve even seen musicians recently saying, ‘Well, it should be just a hobby.’ No, it shouldn’t. Musicians should make definitive art that’s there for the future; that’s what we’re trying to do.”
He hints that a few ideas have already been put aside for a fourth album. “I compose by a method of channelling. I turn off and it turns up. And the more I turn off, the more stuff turns up.”
To find out more and order Altitude see www.lifesignsmusic.co.uk, and turn to page 97 for our review.
“Musicians should make definitive art that’s there for the future.”