Pendragon
North Star

Galvanized by the neo-romanticism reinstated with the 2020 album, Pendragon continue on the same path but with a reduced duration. "Love Over Fear" caught a bit of a surprise because it came out after a post-prog period in which the band seemed to have definitively forgotten its roots. Now here's the confirmation in miniature. This time they haven't composed enough material for an album; "North Star" is a 24-minute EP, divided into 4 tracks, 3 of which belong to an eponymous suite.

Those who appreciated "Love Over Fear" should absolutely have no issues with this new EP, as it is its natural continuation, its extension; the characteristics are fundamentally the same. It is still a dreamy and romantic neo-prog driven by Clive Nolan's keyboards, with a bright and clean sound that harkens back to the golden decade of the British combo, but always revisited in this renewed guise. As in the last album, there are vague references to the classic '70s prog, from 12-string phrases to echoes of mellotron and organ. Once again, we have calls to atmospheres that are distantly Celtic or inspired by a certain British folk, with violin inserts, in particular. Consequently, here too, a lot of space is given to acoustic digressions, and this time they prevail.

Indeed, this aspect deserves to be highlighted; it is precisely this element that is duly explored. If in the previous album the Genesis-style phrases were more frequent, here Nick Barrett decidedly dares more, sometimes seeming to play with his acoustic guitar, adopting a style often sparkling and engaging. In the first movement of the suite, he indeed sounds very Genesis-like, but in the second, he does the unimaginable, first scratching the electric guitar strings with force yet sweetness, then running his fingers vigorously and swiftly over the acoustic one, with an approach suspended between British and Mediterranean atmospheres. Free rein to the fingers even in the third movement, while in the detached and independent "Fall Away," essentially slower and more reflective, he even allows himself to introduce with a burst of flamenco.

So we can say that this EP follows in the wake of the last album, but it is not a copy; it is more; it is very similar, but also different. The tendency towards frequent acoustic allowances remains, but it does not merely repeat them; it expands them, indeed makes them protagonists; a certain folk vein emerges decisively; if in the album it was hidden, now it is declared; a similar electroacoustic triumph had already manifested in the 2005 album "Believe," it is almost inevitable to go back there, but in that case, it was emblematic of a darker and more alternative turn, the door towards post-prog; now instead, it serves airier atmospheres; it is more or less a midpoint between that album and the previous productions.

This, in any case, should not take anything away from the keyboard work, which is as much a protagonist as it is varied; if Barrett weaves the threads, Nolan creates the atmosphere, the mood, he is the one building that crystalline celestial vault we seem to glimpse while listening to the record. Let's say that both keyboardist and guitarist have an equal impact, each in their specific realm.

Then, the incredible ability to fully exploit the proposed duration deserves praise. I am not one of those who see the EP as the ideal type of publication, but here 24 minutes do not really seem little because in those 24 minutes they have been incredibly skilled at saying everything there was to say; everything is brief but exhaustive; it's little, but within that little, there's plenty, and it satisfies. The most glaring example is the second movement; how many damn riffs are there in 3 minutes and 18 seconds?!

A great hit indeed; it easily plays its chances of a high placement in the year-end list. It may not be anything innovative, probably quite derivative, but if with a short and derivative product, you risk ending up among the year's top, it means an excellent job has been done!