Yed album covers8/4/2023 ![]() ![]() There are some terrific vocal harmonisation’s throughout the album, but they stand out on All Connected particularly well. Here they have depth and breadth, beautifully arranged and played. The collective song-writing skills of this band are quite august. But the initial bursts - there was a lot of material around!” It came about pretty naturally, and then we refined it as the process went on. We just went one album into another without really announcing, ‘Hey, we’re working on a second record right now.’ We just continued to work on material. As we were all home and in that mode, things started progressing quite swiftly. It was just constantly being looked at and worked on. But there was still music flowing around in the loop. As soon as we were finished with The Quest, and the mix had come out, we took a couple of little breaks there to catch our breath. Ideas were just copious,” says bassist Billy Sherwood. “There was a lot of material floating around because the band hadn’t done anything in the studio for so long. Song sketches had carried over from The Quest sessions. ![]() There is a clean, clear definition between the sounds of the varied instruments. This is a great credit to Steve’s production skills, a role he fulfils for the second album running. This lushness, though, never topples over into being overwhelmingly busy or dense. But this time around, the sound is lush but airy with each instrument allowed room to breathe and be heard. That lightness is still active on Mirror To The Sky as it is a very fresh sounding release from the opening orchestral strings onwards. It had a lightness of touch that contrasted with the full-blown dramatic approach that made the band’s name in the Seventies. No one was ecstatic, but it was generally well thought of. The Quest had been generally fairly warmly received, with most commentators agreeing that it was a good Yes album. “I had been living in England, and it was just going so well with Steve and I meeting with (engineer) Curtis Schwartz, and working at the Yes HQ studio.” “We felt a little melancholy that The Quest was winding down, so we said, ‘Well, why don’t we just keep going?’” explains singer Jon Davison. It was like throwing gasoline on their creative fire, as they say. Yes received, critically for any band, unconditional support from InsideOut record label boss Thomas Waber, who encouraged them to keep going in the studio, months before The Quest would even go on sale. ![]() As they were wrapping up The Quest, Yes found themselves with song sketches, structures, and ideas that were demanding attention. ![]() It seems that the DNA of Mirror To The Sky was already planted at that time. Mirror To The Sky follows on quite rapidly by modern standards from the group’s most recent studio album, 2021 release The Quest. We’re definitely a team, and we feel a lot of harmony, and a lot of fondness for each other. Being relaxed about things, maybe that’s the ingredient that just fuels the creativity. Newest recruit, drummer Jay Schellen, believes “I feel a great harmony with us all. This album is demonstrative of us growing, and building again.” This seems to be something that his bandmates can readily agree with. In later years, Yes often got going but then didn’t do the next thing. As Yes did in the Seventies from one album to another, we’re growing and moving forward. “We kept the continuity in the approach we established on The Quest, but we haven’t repeated ourselves. “This is a very important album for the band,” says Steve Howe, Yes’ longest current serving member, guitar virtuoso, and producer of Mirror To The Sky. The vibes emanating from the band are quite efficacious in fact. This latest offering from prog rock veterans Yes, appears to have been produced with great positivity though. The options would appear to be limitless, from plain indifference to a possibly not much more cheerful “here we are, we’re not dead yet!”, and most options in between. It must be something of a quandary for an established band or artiste of some standing, steeped in a rich and varied history, and from any given style, to know how to pitch a new album. ![]()
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