Magenta, the superb Welsh prog rockers who now operate as a trio, have announced a new album called “Tarot”, due out April 10 this year via Tigermoth Records.
Below you’ll find the album’s title track (and video). Not long ago the band also premiered the first single, for the album’s opening track The Lovers.
You can already pre-order “Tarot”.
Rob Reed, the band’s boss, chief visionary, composer and multi-instrumentalist, had this to say about the new album:
“It’s been a long time since Magenta put out a new studio album. Lately I’ve been swamped with all kinds of projects, so it took a while before anything new came along that I felt like expressing in music for the new record. Over the last 25 years we’ve released loads of CDs, EPs and DVDs, and I always try to make sure the albums are different from one another and that our sound keeps evolving.
This time I decided to write material that would suit Christina’s voice. While composing, I pictured the way she sings, so I could nail what I was going for. So I wrote the songs hoping they’d fit her vocal range. It took quite a while before we were truly confident we’d found the right keys, the ones that bring out the best in her performance.
Musically, I decided to look back to our beginnings, to 2001, when we formed the band. I’ve always been, and still am, a huge fan of Renaissance, and when we made the album “Revolutions”, the musical spirit of Renaissance had a big influence on how that record turned out. So on the new album I wanted to strike just the right balance between orchestrations, guitars, keyboards and clearly spotlighted bass guitar lines.
I’m really happy with the result. In my opinion, “Tarot” is Magenta’s most coherent and consistent album to date, and I can’t wait to share it with the world.”
The drums on the album were played by Nick D’Virgillio, also a member of Big Big Train and Steve Hackett’s touring band.
“Tarot” track list:
1. The Lovers
2. Etude 1
3. The Magician
4. Etude 2
5. The World
6. Etude 3
7. Strength
8. Etude 4
9. The Empress
10. Tarot
11. The Lovers (single edit)
Line-up:
Christina Booth – vocals
Robert Reed – keyboards, bass guitar, piano, rhythm guitar, recorders
Chris Fry – lead guitar, acoustic guitar
Guest musicians:
Peter Jones – backing vocals
Steve Balsamo – backing vocals
Katie Axelsen – flute
Sam Baxter – oboe
Nick D’Virgillio – drums
