Short Reviews [Vlyes - 2024 - "Why"]

Vlyes are a new German progressive rock band, but their roots stretch back quite a way in that the person originally behind this is Kay Sohl who was a founder of Sylvan and played on their first six albums before deciding to move away from music. In 2019 he made the decision to return, and after a few years approached Jens Lueck (Single Celled Organism, Isgaard) about working on an album together. With Kay providing guitars and bass, and Jen keyboards, drums, piano, and backing vocals all they needed was a lead singer who they found in the form of Volker Oster. Interestingly the band has now become a fully functioning live unit which has seen the departure of Jens and the arrival of Jorg Linke (bass) and Jockel Ludecke (guitars). This is highly emotional prog, and if I had been asked to really think about who this reminded me of without knowing who was involved I think I would have probably said Sylvan, but given Kay’s input into that band it is probably not surprising, although now they are a gigging unit I would expect them to find more of their own way. It is interesting to see how the press release compares Volker to being a combination of Geoff Mann and Kai Marckworth (Martigan) and initially I thought that was a massively over the top thing to say, but the more I thought about it the more I felt I could see where they are coming from. Combining his emotional approach with the Sylvan/Floyd/RPWL/Black Noodle Project arrangements and one definitely gets a feeling of depth and atmosphere from this. In some ways it is neo, in some symphonic, yet is always interesting and is one which definitely benefits from being played on headphones so one can hear all the nuances which may be missed when playing through speakers. I don’t know if Kay totally removed himself from music in the intervening years, or fi he still played for his own pleasure, but it certainly does not sound as if he has been away from the scene as he still has a dramatic touch and driving force. Vyles are a new/old band which definitely need to be investigated further, and I will look forward to hearing what comes next with interest.