It can be somewhat of a cliché when reviewers claim a new album is an artist’s best release to date, especially after the previous ones have been heaped with praise, but I’m going to have to unashamedly trot out that line for the latest Kite Parade album.
With Disparity, multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter, Andy Foster, under the project name of Kite Parade, has produced a stunning album of accessible and melodic progressive rock, with a strong, flowing and emotional conceptual theme running through the songs. The refreshing prog-pop of the debut album, The Way Home was pushed further by Retro. However, Disparity marks a further step up in quality and compositional maturity that is truly progressive and yet still so melodically vibrant and accessible.
Andy’s expressive and clear vocals and sparkling instrumentation once again define the music, but he is joined by some wonderful guest musicians. Jimmy Pallagrosi (from Zio, The Hayley Griffiths Band and Karnataka amongst others) is simply outstanding on drums, with Marcin Palider (of the Polish metal band Atan) on bass adding a lovely coherent synergy to Andy’s guitar and keyboard programming. The decision to share lead vocal duties with the adorable, melancholic tones of Christina Booth (of Magenta) and the uplifting, lyrical voice of Lynsey Ward (from Exploring Birdsong) on a couple of tracks is also a masterstroke within the album’s emotional narrative.
Just as with his earlier albums, much of the music was conceived during Andy’s burst of creative output over the lockdown period, although The Way Home and most of Retro pre-date this material. Subsequently worked on and polished to a dazzling shine by Andy himself, IQ & Big Big Train’s producer Rob Aubrey’s wonderful mixing and mastering of the music is the icing on the cake as usual. It’s amazing that the album has come together remotely as Andy continues his work as a successful cruise ship musician.
Andy recalls the origins of the album: “I started a new song, as normal, by putting down some chords and seeing where I ended up, and on this occasion, over a few weeks the outcome was a track weaving through multiple sections until reaching its climatic ending. Maybe because of what was happening around the world at the time, this album has a slightly different feel to it. I really hope that the listeners will be able to take the time out to hear the album in one sitting.”
Disparity offers various perspectives on the world through the eyes of those living on contrasting ends of the economic scale: exploring wealth, kindness, compassion, selfishness, loss and the prosperity of hope. Although spread over 9 songs across just over 40 minutes, they are linked together, both musically and conceptually, into a single body of work. While some tracks, such as the first single, Broken, can be enjoyed more independently than others, it is as one free-flowing, integrated work that the album works so well. There are repeating musical and lyrical themes reprised throughout and it is this compositional maturity and depth that takes the album to the next level up in my opinion.
The overall lyrical concept created by Andy, with Nikki Doughty and Paul Marklew, is open to individual interpretation, but I understand it as one involving ‘angels’ looking down upon us here on Earth and seeing the disparity in our lives and wishing we could sort out all the mess and inequality ourselves, seeing us as ‘fraternal’ (‘brotherly’) or future angels. A series of contrasting scenarios play out, which make it a well-structured, thoughtful and coherent concept album.
Fraternal Angels opens the album atmospherically with clear, ethereal keyboard notes before introducing an energetic burst of the prog-pop sound that defines the project so well (as I say, think It Bites meets Lifesigns and classic 80s pop). Jimmy’s jaunty drums and Marcin’s rumbling bass combine well with Andy’s bright vocals, effervescent keyboard patterns and driving guitar chords.
If only they could fly and rise above the lines that opulence bestows.
Then they could all reach out to new horizons.
One day could change the world
Making it beautiful for all to see.”
Spoken word snippets outlining the gulf in wealth between the ‘have’ and ‘have nots’ and the cost-of-living crisis, emphasise the lyrical content, before the music seamlessly flows into the short, contemplative, companion track, Open Your Heart, with some yearning guitar lines of Andy, over a restive rhythm.
This then morphs into the melancholic and reflective beauty of Is This All There Is? with Christina Booth perfectly describing the weary everyday drudgery for a mother struggling to make ends meet and hoping for a way out of it all.
Trying to muddle through, help my family get by.
Why is it so hard? Why is it always painful?
Just hoping to find my place out there.”
It is a compliment to say this concise song would easily find a place in any Magenta album (such as the likes of Home and Seven amongst others). Musically, the sound of piano and lush keyboard chords over a slow tempo works very well.
But then we dive straight into the shiny, exuberant pop of This World is Mine, with pulsing guitar and a catchy, funky, rhythmic swagger to it, matching the strutting, unfeeling confidence and selfishness of a rich city dealer outlined in the lyrics, which contrast so starkly
Speeding down through the town like I own the place.”
There is a great, proggy burst of Hammond organ later by Anthony Cooper, with even a touch of congas and bongos from Ron Vint, along with backing vocals from the Texan singer-songwriter London Lawhon and Krysta Staboulis to create a brash wall of sound.
If I had to chose one song as my favourite from the album and which stands up best individually beyond the album’s continuum of music, it would be Broken. Sung with great emotion and feeling by the talented Exploring Birdsong vocalist Lynsey Ward. The song is about loneliness and loss and is lyrically very moving.
Isn’t what we had dreamed all along.”
Instrumentally, it is brimming with musical ideas, from poignant, rippling piano, a gentle rhythm of bass and drums, atmospheric keyboards, a smooth saxophone solo (from Andy himself) and some haunting, edgy guitar lines along with a steady increase in tempo and some frantic dynamics to close. Rather special, in my view.
Straight into the confrontational Forgotten Youth, with its ‘in-your-face’ stabs of guitar over a raw, pulsating beat, as we look at the societal failure underpinning a violent, drug-addicted and discontented youth. I was reminded by Porcupine Tree’s Fear of a Blank Planet, from the lyrical perspective, and while sympathy for the protagonist is not immediate, his family background, the reasons for his lifestyle and his plea for forgiveness for his failed lifetime, perceived during a drug-induced ‘trip’, is certainly thought provoking and another example of the disparity in parts of our society. The dynamic musical interplay with guitar and keyboards becomes increasingly more proggy towards the end, with simple piano juxtaposed with darker guitar, before the final, despairing “Forgive me, forgive me.”
Is There Hope? is an instrumental interlude that immediately follows, allowing Andy, Jimmy and Marcin to flex their progressive muscles, and provides a nice pause in the narrative’s intensity. Andy excels, firstly on guitar and then soaring synthesisers, while bass and drums keep the song suitable anchored.
The last two tracks bring us back to the central concept of the album with the ‘angels’ above looking down to their ‘fraternal angels’ here on Earth and the hope that we can change the world for the better. It is a positive message of hope to conclude the album with. Make It Beautiful starts with resonating bass, syncopating drums and a repeating keyboard motif before Andy’s pure, uplifting vocals join in, together with soaring synths flitting here and there.
Against suppression and all that lying.”
The music complements the lyrics well and it takes on a more defiant tone before we effortlessly slip into the final track, Listen To The Angels, which reprises much of the opening track musically and satisfyingly rounds off the album. For those missing the Andy’s epic album closer, this is effectively an 11 minute one to savour. There is a majesty here, emphasised by Jimmy’s grandiose burst of drumming and the vibrant musical finale.
Praying love overcomes all the greed.
So, listen to your heart now
‘Cos time is running out now.
Share a little love now
Listen to the angels
Right now.”
Andy Foster’s latest Kite Parade album, Disparity, is an artistic triumph that manages to keep the bright, uplifting, shiny, pop-prog of his earlier albums, but frames and integrates it beautifully within a more progressive, coherent and conceptual structure, with a powerful message to boot. The 9 tracks flow together effortlessly as a single and accessible piece work, with the inclusion of guest female vocalists adding freshness and diversity to Andy’s delightful vocals and mesmerising instrumentation. If you haven’t discovered Kite Parade yet…. where have you been? This is infectious, crossover progressive music of the highest order.
TRACK LISTING
01. Fraternal Angels (5:29)
02. Open Your Heart (1:37)
03. Is This All There Is? (3:15)
04. This World Is Mine (3:03)
05. Broken (7:28)
06. Forgotten Youth (5:14)
07. Is There Hope? (4:03)
08. Make It Beautiful (7:33)
09. Listen To The Angels (3:38)
Total Time – 41:20
MUSICIANS
Andy Foster – Vocals, Guitars, Saxophone, Keyboard Programming
Jimmy Pallagrosi – Drums
Marcin Palinder – Bass
~ With:
Christina Booth – Lead Vocals (3)
Lynsey Ward – Lead Vocals (5)
Anthony Cooper – Hammond Organ Solo (4)
Ron Vint – Congas & Bongos (4)
London Lawhon – Backing Vocals (4,8 & 9)
Krysta Staboulis – Back Vocals (4)
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: White Knight Records (CD, Digital)
Country of Origin: U.K.
Date of Release: 4th October 2024