Here’s a good argument that you can make any existing form of music more interesting by New Orleans-izing it. Zoomst is very much a prog band, with obvious influences that go back to the best of progressive rock’s ’70s heyday. But they’ve freshened up the form by working their hometown into the mix, both in the musical ideas they absorb and the lyrical subject matter. The storyline here concerns a flood that causes locals to escape on the open sea. So, it’s an elaborate concept album set in the distant future, or maybe the fairly recent past.
Zoomst. Photo: Facebook
The greatest prog bands managed to absorb all kinds of music, from jazz to classical, and make it work together—the trick was that the melodies and compositions had to be strong enough for all those transitions to make sense (go score a vinyl copy of Gentle Giant’s The Power & the Glory if you’re wondering what I mean). By that standard, Zoomst does great: the pieces here (mostly in the five-to-ten-minute range) are full of interlocking parts that are interesting on their own but become bigger and grander in context.
“Sunrise” (this album’s first vocal track after an extended overture) is a prime example: It opens with a funky bass riff out of the George Porter Jr. trick bag, but tops that with unlikely Beatlesque harmonies. There follow a few keyboard-led tangents that take the piece to uncharted melodic territory. Toward the end of the song comes a chanted part that sounds for all the world like a Mardi Gras Indian piece as performed by Yes. On paper this absolutely shouldn’t sound as good as it does.
There are other nice bits as well, including a cosmic reggae passage on “Wadidosis” and a full-throttle art-metal finale on “New Orleantis.” The lyrics likewise depart from the Katrina-like scenario to introduce some sci-fi situations and characters; this isn’t an album to fully absorb with one listen. But they do know when to slow down and let a gentler mood come through, notably on the 14-minute “Awizawei.”
There’s a small handful of local artists who’ve referred to prog in their music—Woodenhead and Beth Patterson are the first to come to mind—but Zoomst is the first in a long while to make it their starting point. As such, their good ship is off to a strong launch.
