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Did you hear the news? Musical archivists recently discovered a completed-yet-unreleased master tape for the album Yes<\/strong> recorded during the long break between Relayer<\/em> and Going For the One<\/em>!<\/p>\n Well, okay, not really. And in fact it\u2019s selling Wobbler<\/strong> a bit short to characterize their new album Rites at Dawn<\/em> as a Yes ripoff. Not that there\u2019d necessarily be all that much wrong with such an approach: muscular bass lines, high-wire vocal melodies, catchy melodies and twist-n-turn arrangements often make for a tasty menu of progressive rock. But Rites at Dawn<\/em> has more going for it that that.<\/p>\n This Norwegian five-piece is merely the latest piece of solid evidence to support my argument that 21st<\/sup> century prog rock (of a sort with a clear debt to its 1970s ancestor) is alive and well and living in Europe. Their sound is unapologetically derived from the classic styles of forty-or-so years ago, and, really, what\u2019s so wrong with that? I mean, when\u2019s the last time you heard a really compelling new song from Yes? [UPDATE<\/strong>… Answer: July 2011<\/a>. \u2014 ed.]<\/p>\n Rites at Dawn<\/em> kicks off with a very short instrumental mood piece; \u201cLucid\u201d sounds like a snippet of I Robot<\/em>-era Alan Parsons Project<\/strong>, all airy and placid yet slightly foreboding. It signals the coming of something, but we know not what.<\/p>\n That something is \u201cLa Bealtaine,\u201d a longish piece that quickly announces the return of prog. Within its first minute we hear the rumbling, trademark tones of the Rickenbacker bass; the crackling tricky percussion favored by the likes Bill Bruford<\/strong>; no less than three keyboards (Mellotron, harpsichord and analog synthesizer); and upper-register vocals.<\/p>\n So it\u2019s like that, is it? Sonically Rites at Dawn<\/em> most closely resembles Tales From Topogrpahic Oceans<\/em> (my least-favorite classic-period Yes album, by the way), but it\u2019s free from the graphic torpor (heh) of that album\u2019s overblown, overlong compositions. The songs on Rites at Dawn<\/em> bear an economy of style closer to The Yes Album<\/em>.<\/p>\n I apologize for coming back again and again to Yes as a musical touchstone, but the similarities are unmistakable; Wobbler clearly could get work as a tribute band if they took the time to learn \u201cStarship Trooper.\u201d (Yeah, like you\u2019re gonna tell me they don\u2019t already know every note of it.)<\/p>\n Andreas Str\u00f8mman Prestmo<\/strong>\u2019s vocals are a tad less assertive than Jon Anderson<\/strong>\u2019s, so even though he\u2019s mixed clearly, his voice ends up serving more as an instrument than a lyric delivery system. Those lyrics do indeed deal with themes familiar to 70s prog fans. The longest track on the disc, \u201cIn Orbit\u201d starts out with some lovely acoustic guitar and orchestral instruments (flute and bassoon) but quickly moves into heavier territory. There are the requisite \u201cmovements\u201d in the arrangements, and plenty of the contrast (fast\/slow, loud\/quiet, hard\/soft) that prog fans demand. But all those qualities are delivered in the context of pleasing melodies: the instrumentation will please adherents of the classic style (especially keyboard boffins), but those in search of a nice melody won\u2019t come away disappointed.<\/p>\n The songs float by fairly quickly, and while none of them may leave an indelible mark the way something like \u201cRoundabout\u201d did on your first listen, the net effect is very appealing, and Rites at Dawn<\/em> is an album that fans of the style can (and likely will) return to for many repeated listens.<\/p>\n The disc is structured like an LP, with a little horizontal rule dividing the list of the first three songs from the last four. \u201cThis Past Presence\u201d has lots of shimmering acoustic guitar, flute and Mellotron, but it too develops into something else: Lars Fredrik Fr\u00f8islie<\/strong> seems intent on proving that his keyboard collection is as large as that of, say, P\u00e4r Lindh<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n If one had any doubt that Wobbler is unashamedly mining the 70s prog aesthetic, such doubts would be put to rest for good after hearing \u201cA Faerie\u2019s Play.\u201d In fact the title alone should clear things up, but the song trills along, exploring the texture and depth that one would expect. While everyone plays well \u2013 and in places, in a manner approaching virtuosic \u2013 everything holds together well; the tracks on Rites at Dawn<\/em> aren\u2019t mere player\u2019s showcases. They\u2019re real songs, expertly arranged. Nobody fights for musical supremacy; in particular, guitarist Morten Andreas Eriksen<\/strong>\u2019s work is impressive yet understated.<\/p>\n