Short Reviews [High Spy - 2023 - "Human Geometry"]

There have been plenty of changes in the High Spy camp since the last album, 2019’s ‘The Code’. I must confess to not being a fan of that one, thinking it was the worst of the five they had released to that point, and now there are just two people left from that line-up, keyboard player Mark Price (Framework, Final Conflict, Grace) and drummer Tony Hall (Grace). For this album they have brought in bassist Dave Lythgoe (Epilogue) (I remember reviewing their demo 30 years ago!) along with singer Jeff Henson and guitarist Rich Pointon, both from Angry Stars. The recognition of needing to do something different has fired them up, and here we have something which could well have been released back in the 90’s, with everyone nicely linked in. Whereas the vocals were something of an issue last time around that is no longer the case with Jeff having a nice style and while he generally sings in the middle register, he is not afraid to go higher when he needs to, and happily holds notes without an issue. Mark has always been a great keyboard player totally suited to the neo prog genre, happy to provide swathes of chords as a backing, or be much more to the fore with repeated melodies designed to grab attention and be the perfect support to the crunch of the guitar. This is melodic and a load of fun while also incorporating some American rock stylings to make something which is enjoyable and very easy to get into from the very first play. The album is only 40 minutes long, with six songs, and that is just right for this – it does not outstay the welcome and I can only hope that now they have a new line-up they will not wait too long before releasing the next one. While many other bands from the day have either fallen to the wayside or have progressed their style into something else, High Spy sound as if they have been brought here by a Tardis, as this is so similar to what I was being sent in the early 90’s and is a solid joy throughout.