Progtopia Archives

Germany has given the world a lot of great music ever since the days of the Bach family, but for us prog rock fans, perhaps the prime example of excellence emerging from the country these days is the Hamburg-based quintet Sylvan. Having been around since the mid-‘90s with most of the same members, this thematically-strong group has eight studio albums, a live album, and a concert DVD to their credit. On the most recent of these – Sceneries, released in January of 2012 – each of the band members (Volker Söhl [keyboards], Matthias Harder [drums], Jan Petersen [guitar], Sebastian Harnack [bass] and Marco Glühmann [vocals]) served as the “godfather” of an epic-length song, with the full 90-minute work showcasing all of their considerable talents within each other’s tunes. Progtopia host Mark Ashby speaks with members of the band about the process of conceptualizing and recording such an album, the story album Posthumous Silence and the effect the live show has on the audiences, as well as the joys and trials of making a concert DVD on a budget, the difficulty of writing and recording two albums at once, and much more. Visit them online at www.sylvan.de (site in both German and English).

Featured songs/excerpts:
“Timeless Traces”
“Deep Inside”
“Belated Gift”
“A Kind of Eden”
“The Fountain of Glow”
“Farewell to Old Friends”

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(Originally posted 31 Mar 2013)

Direct download: Progtopia_004_Enjoying_the_Sceneries_with_Sylvan.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:43pm EST