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Leaving the comfort zone of your own band to embark on new musical paths requires courage. MARCO GLÜHMANN, the singer of one of the most successful German Artrock bands SYLVAN, should not lack this, as he is used to being in the spotlight. It is a testament to his enormous creativity that he used an extended break from his main band to try something new without the necessary compromises, guidelines and restrictions of his fellow musicians. The result is a fantastic album, full of energy and esprit, which moves somewhere between Rock, Artrock and sophisticated Pop Music. After his SYLVAN bandmates Volker Söhl and Johnny Beck presented the VIOLENT JASPER project last year, we can now look forward to their frontman’s work “A Fragile Present”!
MARCO GLÜHMANN composed most of the songs in a kind of frenzy within just a few months, allowing himself to drift freely and casually through harmonies, melodies and lyrics. Only two songs have their origins in the old days: “Reach out” and “Black the shade out” come from songwriting sessions around 2010, the latter even including the original intro from the demo back then. “These two songs are a kind of window into my musical past,” says MARCO GLÜHMANN, and continues: “With all the other songs, I let my emotions guide me: the vocal melodies are mostly spontaneous ideas, and the lyrics were largely written during the first demo recording, so everything is very personal.”
Marco not only wrote the first single in particular, “My eyes are wide open”, in a very short space of time, but most of the lyrics have also remained the same. “The lyric ‘Lay your head on me, oh my little boy’ still gives me goosebumps, because I imagine myself and my son here and feel the love, the shortness of the moment, but also the responsibility of ‘sending’ him into this world,” the artist continues. The fact that this song in particular was refined by none other than MARILLION guitarist STEVE ROTHERY, one of Marco’s musical heroes, is a very special exclamation mark.
Speaking of musicians, the line-up reads like a “who’s who” of the Artrock/Progressive Rock scene: in addition to the afore mentioned STEVE ROTHERY, BILLY SHERWOOD from YES also makes a guest appearance: he contributed the choirs on “Hear Our Voice” in the very best YES style. RPWL guitarist KALLE WALLNER plays most of the guitars on the album and was not only involved as co-producer but also as arranger. SYLVAN guitarist JOHNNY BECK also contributed many parts and the rhythm section consists of drummer TOMMY EBERHARDT and bassist MARKUS GRÜTZNER (RPWL). All of this was recorded, mixed and produced by RPWL mastermind YOGI LANG at Farm Studios, who also played some keyboards.
Despite the natural parallels to SYLVAN, the songs on “A Fragile Present” are much more “earthy” and sometimes “rockier”. The arrangements are always reduced to the essentials and the wonderful and highly emotional voice of MARCO GLÜHMANN is always in focus. The ingenious vocal melodies immediately pave the way to the album, which, in addition to all the rock elements, naturally also includes the ballads, where Marco’s voice is particularly brilliant: in addition to the aforementioned “My eyes are wide open”, “Hear Our Voice” and the very intimate “You are not alone” are particularly noteworthy. And of course there are also ‘proggy’ elements, e.g. on “Never say good-bye” or “Look at me”.
MARCO GLÜHMANN on the album title: “‘A Fragile Present’ reflects the fragility of the ‘gift of life’ or the ‘transient present’, whether in a personal or global context. It’s not a concept album, but the songs are nevertheless connected in terms of content, as this fragility and fear of loss accompanied me in the creative process.”
| Release | 14. June 2024 | |
| Media | CD (Digipak) | GAOM077 |
| Vinyl | GAOM077LP | |
| Label | Gentle Art Of Music | |
| Distribution | Soulfood Music | |
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