The Flower Kings
Look At You Now

Let's start with a fundamental question: do we still necessarily need a new Flower Kings album in 2023? The answer for me is clearly no. The Flower Kings are the exaltation of progressive rock in its most archaic and traditional form, the one that remains stuck in its classicism and refuses to grow and evolve, instead, we should always seek evolution, or at least try. But as I always say, prog is like a nice slice of cake; it's always the same, you know how it's made but it's delicious, and you can't say no. And then the vintage touch never ceases to have its charm, from time to time it's necessary to dust it off to remind us how things used to be.

But if we really had to find reasons to venture into this “Look at You Now”... what would they be? We can always find some. For example, the return to a single album (except for the LP version); the Swedish band has opted for a double album on 7 occasions out of 16, 3 of which are consecutive, the very last three; we are well aware that not everyone digests the 90-minute brick, and the Flower Kings are the proudest standard-bearers of it, often exceeding two hours in total. However, it is significant to divide the band's discography into two phases, one that goes up to around 2007 and a subsequent one; not that the band has made an evolution, but in the first phase, the arrangements were excessively pompous, extended, and hard to digest, while in the latter, they became lighter and more digestible, regardless of whether the albums were one or two discs. "Look at You Now" naturally follows the more recent period; it is a sincere and classic prog album that flows smoothly without hitches and without wrapping the listener's ears with annoying textures, plus everything is concentrated on a single support. In line with the latest productions, almost all tracks are short, only the concluding titular one reaches 11 minutes.

And besides this? Well, there is an intelligent use of synthesizer parts, they are clear, fluid, and full of energy. But there are also valid instrumental tracks like the flowing “Dr. Ribedeaux” and the elegant “The Queen”; but above all a handful of beautiful melodic songs, which sound almost modern and even catchy, perhaps the Flower Kings have never been so little daunting; when I hear “The Dream,” “The Light in Your Eyes,” “Stronghold,” and “Day for Peace” I feel that they could truly be listened to with pleasure by anyone.

So, okay, we are convinced, "Look at You Now" definitely deserves a listen but I don't understand what drives a band to keep going forever doing the same things, is it possible that the various members never look each other in the face agreeing that maybe it would be time to explore new paths?! In any case, I would suggest the band stop here, even if in the end, I would go back on my words and listen to the next album with the usual dedication I feel that going on further would make no sense, it would be therapeutic persistence, stopping would be an act of intellectual honesty. But there is a small clue: the album concludes with the same chorus that opened their historic first album dated 1995, which not only sounds like closing the circle but also as an unconscious awareness, as if sensing the feeling of not having to go any further! Will it really be like that?