RELEASED 28.4.2014
STUNNING NEW ALBUM IN THE FINEST TRADITIONS OF PROGRESSIVE ROCK & SPACE ROCK • CO PRODUCED BY YOUTH (KILLING JOKE, THE FIREMAN) • ILLUSTRATED BOOKLET WITH NEW ESSAY Stunning new album in finest tradition of progressive rock and space rock Pucker up and kiss… the apocalypse. In the grand tradition of high concept progressive rock comes an epic cross-media hybrid where cerebral science fiction meets visceral rock ‘n’ roll. Sontaag’s eponymous debut album has been described as ‘the space opera that Pink Floyd never wrote’, ‘a modern-day Tubular Bells’, ‘a prog-rock War Of The Worlds’, but no reference point or sound-bite nails its seamless combination of space rock, narrative spoken word, and evocative post-Orb ambience quite as neatly as ‘sonic cinema’. Recorded in New York City and London, co-produced and mixed by Youth (Killing Joke, The Fireman) for Big Life Management, ‘Sontaag’ is a stunning and immersive listening experience. An evolutionary progression combining cutting edge sounds with classic dynamics, adapting the rock experience for today’s digital environment. Arriving in a landscape where music, books and movies often co-exist on a single handheld device, ‘Sontaag’ represents a seamless fusion of the finest elements of all three.
Sontaag's central sci-fi concept unfolds in a distant galaxy… The Ancients, through a long process of trial and error, had discovered the secret of synthesizing essential energy from harmonic sound, giving them the power to reanimate extinct planets by utilising giant orbiting sonic generators. But life came at a price. The newly supplanted inhabitants of MP-5 were compelled to provide the musical fuel for The Great Harmodulator simply to stay alive. Sontaag features Richard Sontaag (composition, instruments, concept, co-production) and Ian Fortnam (story, lyrics, voice, concept).
1. EMPYREAN 2. THE GREAT HARMODULATOR 3. SPACESHIFTER 4. HARMODULATION 5. THE MINOR KEYS OF ANGUISHED WEEPING 6. SERENA SERENARUM (PARTS 1, 2 & 3) 7. SYN AND PHONIC 8. INTERSTELLAR GENOCIDE 9. CHOKUTO 10. GLISSANDOR 11. THE SKULL-SCRAPING CATERWAUL 12. AFTERSHOCK CACOPHONY 13. MEMORIA TENERE