Save Us is a new EP by Unitopia / United Progressive Fraternity vocalist Mark Trueack, inspired by the unfortunate flooding in late 2023 of Mark’s new home and business at a café Restaurant in Thailand, which occurred while he was touring in Europe and USA with Unitopia. Mark Trueack has faced a lot of challenges in recent years with the end of a long-time marriage and serious health issues, and was just starting a new life with a new partner in a new land so this natural disaster was a real blow. However, Trueack is a resilient man who is using his musical talent to try to help fund some of the recovery of his home and business, as well as a Go Fund Me campaign launched in November 2023. He has also used some of his connections to recruit an all-star line up to this release, including Patrick Moraz of Relayer era Yes, ex-Genesis drummer Chester Thompson, and Dave Kerzner of Sound of Contact, alongside some of his band mates in Unitopia and United Progressive Fraternity.
Show Me How floats in with all the twinkling charm of a classic Jon and Vangelis space ballad filled with some of those distinctive keyboard motifs of that stellar duo. Mark Trueack sings affectingly with brittle emotion over Christophe Lebled’s shimmering keyboards. Trueack has shared that the song is ‘based on my experiences that I have here Thailand, learning about the way of Thai people, my understanding of how poor the country is yet it has so much richness. The words in the song reflect on my broken marriage and a new beginning here in Thailand and becoming a part of a new family’. This is a beautifully performed song which draws you into this release.
Anyone expecting a more rock-oriented project, akin to his history with Unitopia, will have to adjust to the much gentler pastures in which Trueack walks as a solo artist on this release. There was a pointer to this approach in the additional ‘Romantechs’ discs on recent United Progressive Fraternity albums, which Trueack has described as ‘Progressive Chill’. However, Trueack is not without more musical ambition on Save Us, exemplified by the extended piece What We’ve Done. Originally written by Dave Buchholz, who provides some gorgeous piano accompaniment, this is a piece dripping with crystalline emotion. Wisely Trueack lets the music breathe instrumentally with a lovely middle passage in which Steve Unruh’s ethereal violin intertwines with the tinkling rain drop notes of glistening piano. The pathos of this touching middle section is amplified by the melancholic tones of Nate Miller’s Erhu (Chinese violin) and the French Horn of Marc Papeghin.
Given the context of this release to enable renewal, Mark Trueack has appropriately taken the opportunity to breathe new life into songs / projects he has been associated with for some years. Some of these pieces had not quite reached fruition previously, including So Fragile and Reality, songs with roots going back 10 years. Trueack has shared So Fragile is a dreamy meditation on ‘how precious the earth and its beings are. How we all strive to be better, and asking our leaders to be more active in Earth’s problems’. Steve Unruh provides delightful flights of flute over a pastoral setting, framed by Dave Kerzner on keyboards, alongside his collaborator Fernando Perdomo on subtly played nylon-strung guitar, bass and harp. Similarly, Reality dates back a decade and reflects the turmoil through which Trueack has gone through with emotional and physical traumas, with some raw feelings exposed. Nevertheless, life goes on and Trueack uses this song to reflect very personally on the end of relationships and how he has to face reality and move on. Steve Unruh stands out on this emotive piece with softly played violin and flute play.
The finale of Save Us is the title song, co-written with ex-Yes and Moody Blues keyboardist Patrick Moraz, when they met at the Progstock festival in New Jersey, alongside Trueack’s longtime Romantechs collaborator, Christophe Lebled. This optimistic song rolls along in Beatle-esque fashion with ‘Truey’ singing with understandable passion about a cause so close to his heart, backed in fine fashion by a choir of his friends and family in Thailand. Don Schiff, who played with Trueack in 2023’s ‘Seven Chambers’ tour, underpins this gentle accessible rock song with some tastefully cool fretless stick work. As the song plays out its memorable main melody Steve Unruh embroiders the piece with some lovely violin motifs, and the song fades away wistfully.
Enticingly this Save Us EP whets the appetite for Mark Trueack’s autobiographical full solo album release in May, Journey’s Groove : An Adventure in Life. Save Us is clearly a very personal project, borne out of adversity and indicating admirable resilience. Mark Trueack’s distinctive high-quality vocals are always worth hearing, and in this heartfelt project he may have produced some of the most affecting and emotional vocals of his career. Save Us is a worthy fund-raiser, but is well worth acquiring just for the sheer quality of the songs. Created in the midst of personal challenge there is a warmth and optimism exuding from this music which embraces the listener.
TRACK LISTING
01. Show Me How (6:24)
02. What We’ve Done (9:08)
03. So Fragile (4:21)
04. Reality (7:05)
05. Save Us (7:12)
Total Time – 34:10
MUSICIANS
Mark Trueack – Vocals
Steve Unruh – Violin (1,2,4 & 5), Backing Vocals (1 & 2), Flute (3 & 4), Percussion (4), Guitar (5)
Christophe Lebled – Keyboards, Melodic & Percussive Sequences (1 & 5)
Dave Buchholz – Piano, Orchestral Arrangement (2)
John Greenwood – Electric & Classical Guitars (2)
Steve Layton – Guitar, Keyboards (4)
Chester Thompson – Drums (2 & 5)
Patrick Moraz – Keyboards (5)
Dave Kerzner – Keyboards (3)
Fernando Perdomo – Nylon-strung Guitar, Bass, Harp (3)
Don Schiff – NS/Stick (2 & 4), Fretless NS/Stick (5)
Joanna St Clare- Lead & Backing Vocals (3 & 5)
Maew Pao Café Choir:
– Supattra Anontri, Nippon Sanboon, WuKam, Suphalak Jaib, Aoi Chanchayapop, Kris Sookhnoom & Bualai Sriburin (1 & 5)
Nate Miller – Erhu (Chinese violin) (2)
Marc Papeghin – French Horn (2)
Jamison Smeltz – Soprano, Alto, Tenor & Baritone Saxes (4)
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Progrock.com Essentials
Country of Origin: Australia
Date of Release: 1st February 2025
DISCOGRAPHY
– Save Us (EP)
with Unitopia
– More Than A Dream (2005)
– The Garden (2008)
– Artificial (2010)
– One Night In Europe (Live) (2011)
– Covered Mirror Volume 1: Smooth As Silk (2012)
– More Than A Dream – The Dream Complete (Remastered & Expanded Edition) (2017)
– The Garden (Remastered & Expanded Edition) (2020)
– Seven Chambers (2023)
with United Progressive Fraternity
– Fall In Love With The World (2014)
– Planetary Overload Part 1: Loss (2019)
– Planetary Overload Part 2: Hope (2023)
LINKS
Mark Trueack – Progrock.com Essentials | Facebook | Facebook (UPF)