Lindberg’s music is a satisfying hybrid of pop, rock and prog influences
Miles From Nowhere
Artist: Jonas Lindberg & the Other Side
Label: Inside Out Records
7 tracks / 76:28
Groups like the late, lamented Beardfish and The Flower Kings have been exporting their own brand of Swedish prog for many years now, but the name Jonas Lindberg might be new to you. That should change ASAP. Starting his musical experiments as an educational exercise which eventually evolved into a pair of EPs, Lindberg then created a full-length band project. Miles From Nowhere, his second major project, is a mature and impressive sophomore effort. Lindberg’s music is a satisfying hybrid of pop, rock and prog influences. Known as Jonas Lindberg and The Other Side, the multi-instrumentalist and his band give us an entry into the progressive arena which, like the recent work from John Young’s band, Lifesigns, retains the complexity of prog but avoids the excesses and (occasional) pomposity of the genre.
The remaining six songs range from four to six minute sophisticated prog/AOR pieces (“Little Man,” “Why I’m Here”) to the mammoth prog epics, “Summer Queen” and the 25 minute-plus closer, “Miles From Nowhere.” Somewhere in-between is the very proggy “Oceans of Time,” full of interweaving themes, beautiful changes, and some very jazzy organ and guitar work (quite a fierce guitar solo at the half-way mark) - lots to appreciate here, especially for fans of the Neal Morse Band. The album’s instrumental piece is ten seconds shy of six minutes and features Lindberg building an effective prog interlude from acoustic guitar to full band.
That 25 minute ending track is a reminder that this is, after all essentially a prog album - The Flower Kings’ Roine Stolt even contributes a signature guitar solo toward the end of the song. Still, there are elements of classic rock in “Miles From Nowhere,” especially in the ‘center’ of the piece, and the prelude reminded me of both Focus and Kerry Livgren. The huge ending is a fitting coda to this collection of songs, and an intriguing peek at what epics might lie in the future for Jonas Lindberg and The Other Side.
- Bert Saraco
4 1/2 tocks
You can see concert photography by Bert Saraco (including Switchfoot) at the link below.
