So, what are you listening to these days?

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Steven Wilson is a multitalented musical wizard from the UK. He sings, composes, plays multiple instruments, produces, and more. His genre of choice tends to be prog rock but he has influences from across the rock music spectrum, even metal (he produced a classic album by Swedish progressive death metal band Opeth). His latest solo album is Requiem For A Village. And so far, it's a beauty. The inspiration is village life in the British Isles with some notes of folk horror and fantasy. The title is borrowed from a 1975 British film. Oddly given the title and theme, a lot of the music leans to the heavier end of Wilson's musical spectrum. The whole thing is held together with a narrative written by Andy Partridge (from the band XTC, of "Dear God" fame) and spoken by actor David Tennant.

"Now Departing" is one of my favourite tracks.

 
And believe it or not, Canada has its own counterpart to Steven. Devin Townsend is rooted in rock and metal, starting his career in the band of US guitar legend Steve Vai. Like Wilson, Devin writes, sings, plays, produces, and more. His latest is an ambitious rock opera/concept album entitled The Moth. The work was debuted live in Groningen, The Netherlands last year, with the studio version coming out in May and the live version (a recording of that Dutch performance) released last week. This track features, besides Devin backed by full orchestra and rock band, Lynn Wu of the Chinese prog metal band OU, whose last album was produced by Devin.


And why the Netherlands and not Canada? Well, the head of the Noord Nederlands Orkest (North Netherlands Orchestra) helped with the orchestration. And, generally, Europe seems more receptive to Devin's brand of prog metal than we do at home. Too bad. He's one of our greats (and does get the odd Juno nomination).
 
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