The Emerald Dawn / Fluctus Quadratum

The 1865, Southampton
Sunday, 26th October 2024

FLUCTUS QUADRATUM

A square wave hit the South Coast as Fluctus Quadratum rolled in to The 1865 in Southampton to open for The Emerald Dawn. This is a band with some story behind it too! It’s not just because it features a father-son combination with dad, Rick Burtonshaw, featuring on drums while his son Jopheus is the de facto band leader on keyboards in the live setting, and much more including composition in the studio. There is inspiration here in that a young man like Jopheus has been moved to emulate many of our keyboard heroes from decades ago and to create work inspired by their masterpieces. He wrote the band’s first ever song, Convergence, when he was just fourteen years of age. This is no easy path that he has chosen and what’s more he has even eschewed the easier route of using the most modern keyboards to replicate the vintage sounds with pure electronics. His live rig is a keyboard nerd’s dream, all manual dials and switches, wiring and wooden panels to boot.

So much for the ambition and the dedication. The acid test of course is whether he can deliver by actually producing music that people are going to listen to, particularly in a live setting. It didn’t take more than a couple of tracks to have that question categorically answered. By the time the band had completed the first couple of tracks, Inertia and Acquiescence 3, the audience at The 1865 felt like they had discovered a new band that was very worthy of attention.

Jopheus himself is clearly a remarkable talent and between his playing and composition I think he is well on his way to achieving the stated, rather bold, aim of taking us “back to the serious progressive rock era, with a considerable modern twist”. Using many of the textures and techniques of the Emersons and Wakemans of this world the band play epic tracks, my personal favourite was Direlight, and if you want keyboard-led epic prog then this band is very much worth looking up. They only played the shortest track, Acquiescence 2 from their one recorded release, The First Wave EP but their new album is due out very soon, so a lot more will be available.

On stage the band is currently a foursome, of course they are, they are named after something square after all! For this gig they were without a bass player and had to rely on backing tracks, not something I am a fan of, but the band do have a plan for this! As plans go it’s pretty impressive too, so I’ll more than forgive them that minor issue. From January, none other than John Jowitt will be joining the band. I think this will be a significant step forwards for their stage presence and possibly vocal harmonies if they choose to go that way. Hmmm, hang on that will make five of them, will they have to change their name to “Fluctus Pentagōnius” I wonder?

That the band is currently taking shape is underlined by the fact that guitarist Mark Worledge was playing only his third gig with the band. His playing made him seem far more established than that and his often soaring solos tied in very well with Jopheus’s more extensive keyboard work. On vocals is Curtis Adamczyk, who is very adept at delivering some of the doom-laden themes of the songs. I preferred him when he was giving it some power, but he seemed to hit the right tone for the songs admirably.

By the time the band closed with Laplacian, the title track from their new album. I think they had won over quite a few new friends which is no mean feat when you consider the audience. The crowd at The 1865 is extremely prog-literate and there can’t be many tougher tests for a band aiming at keyboard-led prog epics than playing in front of an audience waiting to see The Emerald Dawn . . . they passed with flying colours!

THE EMERALD DAWN

A slight change in pace here as I had a small bone to pick with The Emerald Dawn’s esteemed guitarist . . . 🙂

Honestly!!! Who does Alan Carter think he is? Denigrating me from on high on stage? Me, of all people, calling me a mere “critic” for my “oil rig” comment from the last time the band played here at The 1865. Me? A mere critic? How very dare you sir??? After all I have done for this band too*. I am a purveyor of high quality, in-depth analysis of performers of the fine arts of progressive rock and a founder member of the Progressive Rock Standards Committee to boot! My reviews are crafted with such care, craftsmanship no less, and incredible precision that I sometimes spend over ten minutes writing some of them! I even once had a review published in Prog Magazine and don’t let the fact that they haven’t spoken to me since fool you, they are desperate for more, I just know it! Artists should scorn me at their peril, yes Mr Carter, the pen is mightier than the sword or even that fine Fender axe you were wielding last Sunday. I’ll have you know that some of my posts have been known to get more than seven likes, yes sir! I could destroy you with a few strokes of my keyboard should I be so minded. And don’t think I am scared of you, the Cornish ent, Bruiser Greenaway, or the scary hairy guy you have on drums . . . none of you know my address. 🙂

Okay, now that I have that off my chest, and while quietly hiding the genuine happiness at being promoted to the heady heights of “critic”, we have to ask, were The Emerald Dawn actually any good? Difficult question, and the answer is no, not really. Good would be quite the wrong word to describe their performance. I’ve seen “mesmerising” suggested, thank you Alison Reijman. In the maestro David Webb’s wonderful waffle he stated that he was “transfixed” – well pranks with super glue never get old do they? And in fact the band opened their set with And I Stood Transfixed so maybe David has it right on the nose.

The first time I saw them, I thought I’d got them, they weave awesome soundscapes and build to crescendos with the patience of several saints. Building riffs with meticulous care, and yet despite this painstaking approach they somehow never seem to overdo it. However, I think it was only tonight that I realised quite how majestic, and indeed epic their compositions can be and it all fell into place. Somehow, you can have extremely long songs that are built carefully and gradually in layers that never seem the slightest bit tedious. It’s a clever trick and something that some of our three-minute heroes don’t even seem to manage for their intros! Though I think it is possibly going too far to have a chorus about a “moment in time” when your song lasts longer than anything on Tales From Topographic Oceans!

For anyone that doesn’t know the band (you should fix that), The Emerald Dawn are four incredibly talented musicians that are building a legacy of genuinely epic progressive rock, call it symphonic, call it anthemic, but you won’t really be doing it justice. Up front on stage are the aforementioned Ally Carter, curse his name of course, and Tree Stewart. Tree’s voice, used surprisingly sparingly, delivers the lyrics in majestic fashion, big sounding lines that define the songs. Part ethereal, part wistful at times, but always powerful. More than that she plays the keys which are a large part of the sound with dexterity and a thoughtfulness of composition that permeates everything that the whole band does. And yes, it has to be said, she’s one of those show-off types that can also play flute and acoustic guitar and heaven knows what else too. Honestly, why can’t some of this talent be shared amongst the rest of us? It hardly seems fair. And there were other skills on show later too . . . just to rub it in!

Now, I’d love to trash Mr Carter after his grievous attack on my writing skills but he’s also one of these desperately annoying people who seem to be able to turn their hand to any instrument. His guitar playing is just a joy to listen to, brilliantly judging the moments in each track and treating them with solos, riffs and fills perfectly in keeping with what that particular “moment in time” needs. It is something else then that he can add the textures of multiple types of saxophone (I think!) to the sound, occasionally almost infusing a jazz-like or eastern mystery to the mix, as well as even some keyboards. He probably secretly plays other things too when people aren’t looking.

Now, sensibly sticking to just a couple of bass guitars – yes of course they both have to have six strings, this is prog after all – is David Greenaway. He plays lovely bubbling, at times I would dare say funky, bass lines. Now, something about David. The band on stage have Tree and Ally up front on either side with a big gap in the middle. And yet somehow poor David was relegated to the back of the stage in the stygian gloom of The 1865 – and I’m not *just* making excuses for not getting many good photos of him. I’d love to see his playing up close a bit more so why not free him from his shackles and allow him out front occasionally? I’m sure he would just love to channel his inner rock god and jump up on some of the monitors and strut his funky dance moves occasionally rather than being stuck in the naughty corner like that all night.

Last but not least is Tom Jackson on drums. As he was also parked right at the back in the shadows of the venue. I spent some time watching him from above through the camera lens desperate for some stray rays of light to descend on him. To watch Tom is to know that he is a drummer that really, seriously feels the groove, there’s nothing mechanical here, he really does live the beat as he plays with expert fluency bringing jazz and blues influences to enrich the sounds.

Now, I mentioned that Tree has other skills. Once the band had worked their way through three more tracks including an excellent Stranger in a Strange Land she emerged from her oil rig (sorry – keyboard!) to show off her juggling ability, but it’s juggling like I’ve never seen before. Rolling and spinning crystalline spheres in hypnotic movements while the rest of the band played on. It’s so smooth, a picture of grace, something genuinely beguiling. A highly unusual thing for a prog rock show but it’s one of the few things I’ve seen that make me think I should stop taking photos and just watch. I didn’t but that’s mainly because I’m slow on the uptake. And guess what, Tree is a fabulous artist too, as well as doing the band’s album artwork, she also designed stunning visuals that were projected behind the band. I tried to capture some in the photos but the snaps don’t really do them justice. Some things just live on a higher plane.

After the contact juggling the band complete their set with epic versions of Timeless and Out of Time. The audience are in no mood to let them off easily though and pretty much demand an encore which the band provide with The Calling. This rounds off a simply magnificent evening with thanks again to the quite inestimable Geoff Tucker for making these brilliant performances possible and The Emerald Dawn for flying his Solent Area Prog Gigs banner so impressively.

*Just to be clear, when I say “After all I have done for this band”, I haven’t really done anything for them but it just seemed the right kind of thing to add in to express my outrage at their scandalous treatment of my work. 🙂

With apologies to all concerned, especially Ally. Though that keyboard setup of Tree’s still looks like an oil rig to me, so there! 😉

[Photos by Simon Arnold]

SETLIST
And I Stood Transfixed
Shadow in Light
Stranger in a Strange Land
The March of Time
– Contact Juggling –
Timeless
Out of Time
~ Encore:
The Calling

MUSICIANS
Ally Carter – Guitars, Saxophones, Keyboards
Tree Stewart – Keyboards, Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Flute, Contact Juggling
David Greenaway – Bass Guitars
Tom Jackson – Drums

LINKS
The Emerald Dawn – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | YouTube | X | Instagram
Solent Area Prog Gigs – Website | Facebook