The Flower Kings – Look at You Now
Release Date: 8th September 2023
Label: InsideOut Music
Order/Stream
Genre: Progressive Rock
FFO: Genesis, Transatlantic, Spock’s Beard, Yes.
Review By: Eric Wilt
The Flower Kings are one of the most prolific bands in prog history. Roine Stolt’s main musical vehicle has been putting out high quality prog for over 25 years, and if Look at You Now is any indication, they haven’t lost a step in all that time. In fact, with its more streamlined songs and one-hour-and-eight-minute runtime, Look at You Now may be the band’s best, most focused work in years. It’s not like Stolt and crew are in the habit of putting out bad music, but when you put out as many double albums as The Flower Kings has, some of the songs aren’t going to be as strong as the others. None of the thirteen songs on Look at You Now—including the title song, which clocks in at 11:50—feel like anything other than the cream of the crop, and that’s good news for fans who, like me, can’t get enough of The Flower Kings.
Beginners Eye kicks off the album in classic The Flower Kings form. With its melodic intro featuring layers of piano and synthesizers courtesy of Lalle Larson, to its up-beat verses and adventurous composition, Beginners Eye could have come from any album in the band’s storied career. Scars is another song that is very representative of The Flower Kings’ sound overall. It’s also noteworthy for the standout synthesizer work that leaves me thinking of Tony Banks.
Mother Earth sees a third vocalist make an appearance in the lead singer role. I’m guessing this is Stolt’s brother and bass player Michael Stolt. His voice has more of a baritone quality and adds an enjoyable third layer to The Flower Kings’ normal two vocalist delivery.
The Queen is an instrumental that features a classical guitar, flute, and harpsichord that puts me in mind of the folk prog of the 70s.
Hollow Man is a more theatrical song that sounds like it was ripped right out of a rock opera, while Father Sky is a short but sweet barn-burner with limited vocals.
The Dream, The Light in Your Eyes, and Day for Peace, are all songs that focus less on audacious musicianship and more on purveying deep emotion. That emotion, as with all The Flower Kings’ music, is one of hope and love.
I have been listening to The Flower Kings for many years, so I may be biased, but in my opinion, Look at You Now is everything I could ask for in a new album. It has all of the adventurous compositions and exceptional musicianship that we have come to expect from The Flower Kings, and I enjoy it more with every listen. If you’re a fan of The Flower Kings, you know what to do. If you are a fan of progressive music at all, it will be well worth your time to give Look at You Now a Listen.
(4.5 / 5)
Beautiful review.
I’ve been trying to figure out the post-Bodin Stolt – the new style wasn’t hitting him, though it gradually has.
But Look at you Now is just superb – like a coming-into-focus of what they’ve always done best. Roine himself isa first-rate bassist, and both he and brother Michael provide an equally-valid deeper, crunchier Botton end that Jonas did, for all the latter’s fleetness.
I’m grooving for the second night in a row on how few – if -many – wasted or unfocused moments there are on this album, and I’ve yet to find one. Every song is a rich stew, each moment relatable, and able to serve up its odd-time, virtuoso playing in a listener-friendly way. For those who think “progressive” music always needs to be more dissonant, more post-modern, more fractured, or technological…. I say, it don’t matter. Melody and intricate arrangements, with first rate musicianship which loosens up while serving the richly-written songs; compact epics, mini-epics which run thru the gamut of a full emotional experience in a third of the time.
The ascending dissonant climax on Father Time is just thrilling. Trust me. There are a few Red-worthy moments on here.
And on the title track, that repetitive chorus and into-the-heavens ecstatic climax- maybe aimed at taking And You And I a step further – summarizes as well the explicitly love-earth-save-ourselves-join-together message of the album. Instead of going deeper into sheer wandering-in-the-ruins of Desolation Rose; nor the snarky anti-capitalism of Waiting For Miracles; the don’t let go of one another of Islands; and the Look at the Big Picture of By Royal Decree, here we have an “alright already, we’ve really f-cced up, time to go full flower-power, pray, love, forgive, and stop half-passing it.
This is maybe, just maybe, the most consistently good and interesting record they’ve ever made. As long as you don’t mind seeing the album as the epic made up of songs, or perhaps you’ve noticed that the songs develop like efficient epics, with ecstatic choruses and climaxes, mystic-passionate toned solos; and diverse, fluid, and diverse percussion highlighting as much as grooving.
At least I think so. Two nights in a row.