Band: Sylvan
Band Website: www.sylvan.de
Label: ProgRock Records
Label Website: www.progrockrecords.com
Release Date: 2007
Listening to new music is quite an experience and sometimes you get things that aren’t always what they seem on the surface. Take for example the new Sylvan CD entitled Presets, the band’s sixth studio release which was recorded at the same time as the hugely successful concept epic Posthumous Silence of last year. I was not quite prepared for the subtle change in direction presented here. In fact when I first listened to it, I had to keep reminding myself who it was. It was only after a number of spins that I began to fit all of the Sylvan pieces of the puzzle together.
There have been no changes to the band’s lineup, Sylvan remains Marco Gluhmann (vocals), Matthias Harder (drums), Sebastian Harnack (bass), Kay Sohl (guitar) and Volker Sohl (keyboards). But while the line-up remains the same, the compositional approach on this disc has changed; at least to my ears. Here the band have taken a more straight forward approach to their song-craft with nine of the twelve tracks coming in at 3 or 4 minutes. Not that that has diminished their ability to craft a great tune, “For One Day” is simply magical and deserves to be heard on the radio. The three longer songs clock in at 7:14, 7:11 and the title track at 12:42.
Perhaps the biggest change seems to be the overall tone of the music. Listening to Presets, you would never in your wildest dreams think that Sylvan have a harder-edge, almost prog metal history. Here the guitars are nearly buried in a total atmosphere. The musical tone owes more to a sound-style made popular by bands such as Coldplay, Keane or Snow Patrol. Not that Sylvan sound like those bands, but rather that all the instruments seem to fit into the sound like those bands. The crunchy guitar chords only surface in a couple of tracks. Keyboard atmospherics are more prominent here, as is the piano which was admittedly used quite a bit on their last outing. Track Two, “Signed Away” starts out with some nice Mellotron patches and through most of these songs the guitar appears with a much cleaner sound and less distortion. Don’t get me wrong it’s a great sound and one that plays well with repeated listenings, it’s just that it was a big surprise. The other emphasis that jumps out is on the vocals. Sylvan have always been able to write a good turn-of-phrase and craft a great melody line, and they do that here plenty as on the already mentioned “For One Day” or “When the Leaves Fall Down” and “Cold Suns.” Most of these songs are sort of mid tempo with in some cases very full, lush arrangements. The title track, “Presets” is perhaps the most complex piece on the CD and the one that most resembles Sylvan’s previous efforts, including it’s moments of aggression mixed with a soft and pastoral opening.
This is a CD that seems designed to intentionally showcase a different side to Sylvan. It’s not really symphonic progressive rock, but rather more a contemporary melding of symphonic elements married to a modern rock sound that has been getting more and popular because of the mainstream bands mentioned above. Some fans of Sylvan will no-doubt wonder what happened, others will have no problem what-so-ever. But this is just the type of recording that could win over many new converts, showing a different side to Sylvan. And that’s not a band thing. It’s a perfect disc to play for your non-prog friends.