A new release by Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate is always something I look forward to. Malcolm Galloway and Mark Gatland are UK prog treasures, and their uniquely eclectic, genre-spanning take on contemporary progressive rock and art rock, is always enlightening, engaging and entertaining. They have always produced albums with challenging concepts or themes, with a musical diversity and intelligent and articulate lyrics. Their last two albums; The Confidence Trick and The Light of Ancient Mistakes have looked at science, science fiction, socio-politics, history, communications, the environment and health amongst other topics. Their ambition cannot be doubted, although their music undoubtedly can challenge the listener to be open-minded and not look to the familiar and comfortable in their prog rock. In many ways they are as progressive as any musicians out on the circuit at present.
When Malcolm announced the new album would be called The Uncertainty Principle, my inner geek was suitably delighted. As a former research scientist and recently retired physics teacher, the prospect of a progressive rock release incorporating quantum mechanics and nuclear physics was intriguing to say the least… but would it work? Could Malcolm and Mark produce something coherent and accessible and yet challenging and thought-provoking?
In my opinion, they certainly have! As with all their albums, it takes repeated plays for the quality of their compositions to fully reveal themselves – stripping away the outer layers to reach the hidden core and become familiar with the complexity of the lyrics and the musical intricacies and inventiveness. As a result, I genuinely think Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate have produced their most consistent and coherent album to date with The Uncertainty Principle. With a diversity of tracks that take in full-on, riff-driven rock, complex instrumentals full of jazz, avant-garde, electronica and classical minimalist elements, rich prog rock flights of fancy and accessible pop, through to delicate and emotionally-wrought compositions – this is an album to immerse yourself in to discover the pearls that lie deep within.
I’ll let Malcolm introduce the album’s concept in his own words, before I give you my own personal take on the 11 tracks that make up the album:
“Certainty is, on the whole, comfortable, but often misleading and dangerous. Until the development of quantum physics, science seemed to provide an ever more precise description of our world. With better equipment, our understanding increased. The closer we looked, the more certain we could be of the reality underlying our observations.
Heisenberg’s 1927 Uncertainty Principle overturned that perception. He showed that for the smallest objects we can detect, increasing the knowledge of one aspect of the particle decreases our knowledge of another aspect. This was most famously demonstrated for position and momentum. Although the Uncertainty Principle was discovered in relation to quite technical aspects relating to measurements of subatomic particles, I think it was part of an uncertainty revolution in human thought. We fundamentally cannot be certain about some aspects of the world around us. As physicists were overturning our assumptions about the nature of matter, Kurt Gödel showed in 1931 that any system of mathematics must have limitations. Psychology showed that our memories and self-perception can be wildly inaccurate. And the history of the 20th century is a testament to the dangers of trusting those who are blinded by certainty.
Progress does not necessarily mean we become more certain. Sometimes progress means having a more accurate appreciation of how uncertain reality really is.”
So that’s the big concept…. But what is the music like?
Certainty opens the album impressively and sets the conceptual theme immediately. Atmospheric, repeating keyboard patterns introduce Malcolm’s soft, melancholic, weary and almost regretful vocals as they consider the safe and how the predictable world of ‘classical’ physics, cause and effect and Newton’s clockwork model of the Universe, was changed forever by the discoveries of quantum mechanics in the early 20th century.
In certainty
We used to believe
Then we grew up.”
It is not just science that is considered here. The lyrics have a relevance to our increased uncertainty in our lives and the world around us as we grow up. Musically, distant guitar lines enhance the dark, plaintive feel, but this is broken by a dynamic burst of rhythmic intensity midway, with more urgent and louder vocals and some nice keyboard flurries. A quieter, piano-led section is the prelude to a powerful burst of electric guitar soloing through to the end.
In sharp contrast, Everything Changed is powerful, guitar-driven, rock song, with Mark’s funky bass lines, deep guitar riffs, busy drumming and spaced-out, staccato vocals providing a swagger throughout. Malcolm summarises Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle succinctly in a few lines, with key words relating to wave-particle duality and the ‘fuzziness’ that exists at the smallest scale of matter.
The less well we know y.”
Some lighter keyboard playing contrasts nicely with more heavy-duty rock riffage, and already the band are showing us a diversity in musical style and tempo we can expect across the whole album. It’s a track that should go down well if played live. It’s even danceable, folks!
The Ultraviolet Catastrophe is a refreshingly crafted, instrumental melange of musical styles, with angular, jazz fusion-like guitar and piano over an insistent and busy rhythm, with hints of Santana-like ensemble work at times. The title comes from the flawed classical physics prediction that the intensity of radiation would keep rising at shorter wavelengths – corrected by the quantum theory of light (otherwise we’d all ‘fry’ in front of the fire!) The music is suitably intense as well, and the band packs a lot of invention and energy into its 3-minute duration.
Released earlier as a single, Copenhagen begins solemnly and slowly with dense bass lines accompanying melodic keyboards and guitar, which steadily builds dynamically. The lyrics relate the meeting and disputed conversation between old friends and colleagues, Niels Bohr (Danish, but of Jewish descent) and Werner Heisenberg (German) in Copenhagen in September 1941. There remains uncertainty about the conversation to this day, but it seems there was some moral conflict between Bohr and Heisenberg, who was leading the Nazi’s atomic research programme at the time.
My friend, we unlocked the world together.
Do you understand what you’ve said to me?
Who are you?”
The dark tone of the music and lyrics is juxtaposed by a bright, well-pitched, lead guitar, which provides a contrast to the increased drama Malcolm creates with his expressive vocals.
Cause And Effect (But Not Necessarily In That Order) is another varied instrumental full of invention and panache. Over Mark’s deep bass, Malcolm plays some twinkling piano to accompany the syncopating drum patterns. There is a nice touch of organ, as well as other synths adding to the diverse musical tapestry. The overall percussive rhythm provides the anchor to the track, over which the expressive instrumental themes duck and dive. Truly progressive music in its scope and execution – Morecambe & Wise would understand completely!
The Uncertainty Principle is the longest track on the album and provides the centrepiece for it all. Graham Greene and John Le Carré meet progressive rock in this intriguing, mysterious and cinematic tale of an American spy called Moe Berg, who is ordered to meet up with physicists in Italy in 1944 with regard to the Nazi nuclear programme and even shoot Heisenberg, if he thought he was close to developing a nuclear bomb. It begins atmospherically, with stabs of keyboards, and distant flute from Kathryn Thomas, before some lovely Floydian-style guitar. There is a surreal, eerie feel to it all, as the dreamy lyrics relate Berg’s internal conversation as he searches for, and eventually meets Heisenberg in December in Zurich, as the war draws to a close.
“Well, this is a strange dinner party. Me with my pistol and cyanide capsule. In the inside of my dinner jacket. You, so polite, open and unreadable”
Malcolm’s guitar playing is wonderfully evocative, whilst Mark’s rumbling bass pushes the narrative effortlessly. The keyboards twist and turn as the tempo rises, through to the dramatic conclusion – although the quieter, more reflective musical finale and some haunting flute, seems to create that hanging uncertainty as to whether Berg’s choice to leave Heisenberg alive (and eventually join the Western nuclear programme after the war) was ultimately the correct one.
This war is coming to an end.
Perhaps my employer will be in touch
To see if you can help prepare for the next one.
Well, it’s been a pleasure to meet you professor,
Goodbye.”
The final instrumental, Inside The Atom, takes us into the fizzing, chaotic world of vibrating quarks and flitting electrons in their energy clouds. It’s a swirl of hypnotic, repeating keyboard and guitar patterns, busy rhythmic and minimalist elements, changing tempos, and yet another beautiful guitar solo from Malcolm towards the end – the whole album really shines with his guitar virtuosity in my view.
The Think Tank takes us into the world of ‘game theory’ in the Cold War era, as the possible interactions between countries with nuclear weapons are analysed and calculated. Mark’s bubbling bass propels the heavy rock music urgently, as drums, guitar, synths and electronica twist and entwine to great effect. Malcolm sings the dispassionate lyrics with animated confidence and the whole song recalls, for me, the chilling end of the 1983 WarGames film, as all the projected scenarios end with ‘Winner: None’ displayed on the large screen.
The first single release, One Word That Means the World (Arkhipov), still impresses, even within an album setting. Malcolm’s shredding guitar lines gives an immediate burst of energy before the brooding rhythm and chiming synths and pinging sonar-like sounds take us to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, and the Soviet submarine officer, Vasily Arkipov, who bravely said “No!” when the decision to launch a nuclear weapon was to be made – thereby saving the world from a nuclear war. This is a deliciously accessible and contemporary track that powers through, with a real sense of dynamism and freedom. The lyrics broaden the context and makes us consider if we might have the confidence to say ‘no’ at crucial times in our lives.
We don’t know what’s inside
One word that mans the world.
We don’t know who we are, till we have to decide
What we’ll say if that day comes,
That was the day when you said no.”
Yet another glorious electric guitar solo, as Mark’s bass sways and struts in support. Marvellous!
Yet the next song, Between Two Worlds, could well be the band’s most beautiful and moving one ever. Delicate piano and intimate vocals, and later some orchestrated sounds, take us to an MRI scanner and a patient existing “Between two worlds” waiting for a medical diagnosis, as the hydrogen dipoles flip and realign. Malcolm considers the concept of ‘quantum superposition’ as the patient hangs serenely in either blissful or fearful ignorance of a negative or positive diagnosis to come, before the act of observation resolves this dual states into one, leading to one of two different future paths (Schrödinger’s Cat is the famous thought experiment relating to it).
For the observation that crashes the wave,
And forces me into the path it made.
I’m not quite here, I’m not really anywhere
Between two worlds.”
This poignant song will certainly resonate with all those who bravely go through medical diagnosis and treatment. Repeated plays have certainly made this fragile song one of the highlights of the album.
The final track, Living With Uncertainty, bookends the album with the opening track very well. Lyrically, it is about us all coming to terms in accepting living with uncertainty and dealing with that reality and consequently staying open-minded. It has a really smooth, relaxed vibe with a laid-back jazz-like guitar, Mark’s undulating bass, restrained drums and soft vocals from Malcolm, who’s joined by Ethan Galloway here. However, it’s undoubtedly a step up from your standard ‘yacht rock’ ambience and the thoughtful lyrics, and a final killer guitar solo, make everything work perfectly. There is an optimism and positivity here, and maybe even a hope that organizations and countries can live with uncertainty and understand when they are wrong or require change (which maybe is an echo of that ‘over-confidence’ theme from 2022’s The Confidence Trick, perhaps?)
We can learn to cope with reality.
If we can look at ourselves with an open mind
And say, might I be wrong?
Every Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate album has its own eclectic charm, character and common threads running through them, but I genuinely feel that The Uncertainty Principle could well be their best ever. The central concept of uncertainty, quantum physics and nuclear conflict is an ambitious one, but it weaves together so well. Lyrically deep, articulate and insightful, with some wonderfully diverse and yet coherent musicianship. Malcolm’s increasingly confident vocals, keyboards and stunning guitar work enhance every track and Mark’s invaluable supporting role on bass guitar, synths and co-producing must not be underestimated. As inventive, experimental and eclectic as ever, but also surprisingly accessible and contemporary, with a compositional consistency that pleasantly surprised me. It’s an album that certainly challenges you, but will entertain and reward those who can invest the time and effort to get to the heart of the musical and lyrical synergy (I’d certainly recommend getting the CD to savour the lyrical content and immersive artwork.) If you think you know Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate and haven’t been won over by the unique charm and intellect of the ‘Gilbert and George’ of the prog world yet – please give them another listen. I can’t be certain you’ll agree with me, but I think there could be a strong probability you might!
TRACK LISTING
01. Certainty (7:01)
02. Everything Changed (4:09)
03. The Ultraviolet Catastrophe (2:56)
04. Copenhagen (5:16)
05. Cause And Effect (But Not Necessarily In That Order) (5:58)
06. The Uncertainty Principle (8:44)
07. Inside The Atom (6:54)
08. The Think Tank (3:58)
09. One Word That Means The World (Arkhipov) (4:22)
10. Between Two Worlds (4:20)
11. Living With Uncertainty (3:33)
Total Time – 57:11
MUSICIANS
Malcolm Galloway – Lead & Backing Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards, Synths, Programming
Mark Gatland – Bass Guitar, Chapman Stick, Keyboards, Synths/Modular Synths, Additional Guitars
~ With:
Kathryn Thomas – Flute (6) Backing Vocals (11)
Ethan Galloway – Vocals (11)
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Independent | Glass Castle Recordings
Country of Origin: UK
Date of Release: 4th March 2025 (Digital) | CD to follow
LINKS
Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | YouTube
