Songs from the Harbour by World Sanguine Report

As the British prog scene continues down its maximalist, energetic, virtuosic path, London experimental outfit World Sanguine Report forges their own path on Songs from the Harbour, a dark, minimal, subdued emotional tinderbox that constantly teeters on the edge of cathartic explosion. Chanting, mumbling vocals obsess over grim mantras, at times straining into a shout to match the rising intensity of droning guitars and expressive percussion. The guitar work here clearly stems from the psychedelic tradition, but after nearly eliminating that sound’s showy prog flourishes we’re left with a raw power, a lightly distorted, eerily spindly, densely atmospheric force that dominates the album’s aesthetic direction. In brief flashes of excess, we witness the potential of this band to let loose into a frenzied, theatrical, progressive performance, but their decision instead to direct all of this energy into a tense musical pressure cooker attests to this album’s quiet beauty. Behind the cathartic release of extreme prog rock lies an essential angst, shown here in excruciating, microscopic detail without ever letting the spring uncoil.