Yes/ Mirror To The Sky

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR

Yes/ Mirror To The Sky

Genre: Progresive rock

Label: InsideOut Music

Rating: *** 1/2

English progressive rock group is best known for the early 1970s albums Fragile and Close To The Edge, featuring the classic line-up of vocalist Jon Anderson, keyboardist Rick Wakeman, guitarist Steve Howe, bassist Chris Squire and drummer Bill Bruford. After many changes, and the deaths of Squire and long-time drummer Alan White, Howe is the only veteran to remain in the group.

Underrated but amazing as a guitarist, Howe drives the band forward on its 23rd album Mirror To The Sky. Like the 2021 album The Quest, he plays the role of producer. Others in the group are vocalist Jon Davison, who's been with Yes since 2012, former Asia bandmate Geoff Downes, bassist Billy Sherwood and American drummer Jay Schellen, who's replaced the late White. The Fames Studio Orchestra, conducted by Oleg Kondratenko, chips in with the orchestral flourishes.

Like vintage Yes, most songs are characterised by dynamic intros, sudden theme changes and grand instrumental soundscapes. Davison is in form on the opening track 'Cut To The Stars', whose words are inspired by scientific themes like Andromeda, Dog Star, lightning, thunder, the creation theory and the southern sky. It was written to commemorate Davison's visit to a dark-sky preserve.

'All Connected' and 'Luminosity' are both above nine minutes long. Despite some dazzling guitars at the beginning and end, the former tends to ramble on. In contrast, 'Luminosity' really perks up the album. With grand arrangements, a pleasant melody, a nice falsetto, tight harmonies and an autoharp, it impresses on lines like, "We are as the stars luminous, we are all stardust, if ever there was a sun to dream upon, we are as one, we're luminous beings, luminous".

Bassist Sherwood is on supreme form on 'Living Out Their Dream', which has interesting theme changes. The title track is a 13-minute piece with a glorious intro, with the words, "Dreams of a sky without fire, Dreams of a sky without fire, an occurrence of chance, this fleeting existence, are we not leaves in a storm, here tossed and there blown". The highlights are Howe's guitarwork, fuelled by a dream-like solo in the middle, and Downes' keyboard improvisation.

Davison's singing is the main feature of the beautifully written and slower 'Circles Of Time'. He sings, "I'm caught in a circle of time, stuck on a spinning wheel of our few hellos and many goodbyes, I'm caught in an endless time circle, spinning out of mind, wishing somehow I could get off of this ride". Davison has written the song himself, and played acoustic guitar.

The last three songs have all been written by Howe. Though they have their stylistic moments and interesting arrangements, 'Unknown Place' and 'One Second Is Enough' don't match up to the earlier songs. However, 'Magic Potion' is a good album closer with the lines, "As we're drifting in slow motion, all consumed by the notion, that love is a magic potion".

In the end, the album's middle section, from tracks 3 to 6, is perhaps its most appealing stretch. That's the part one would love to play repeatedly. A stronger last quarter would give Mirror To The Sky more consistency and weight. Nevertheless, it is one of the band's strongest works in three decades.