Artist : Steven Wilson

Label : Fiction Records

If the 1970s were the pinnacle of progressive rock, then the present decade is surely a close second. We are living through the dramatic return of this most noodling of genres – a sort of 2025: A Prog Odyssey. That rebirth has taken many forms, whether it is a revitalised David Gilmour, of Pink Floyd, galloping to number one with his latest solo LP or a new generation of artists bringing a fresh perspective with their expansive riffs on classic rock.

Look around and everyone seems to be going prog. There is the prog metal of groups such as Bell Witch, the fantasy prog of Magic Sword and the prog hip-hop of To Pimp a Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar’s lusciously overwrought instant classic from 2015 (where the flute solos had flute solos).

Recent years have even witnessed the birth of prog folk, the live performances of the Dublin “mutant” trad group Lankum rivalling Floyd in their prime for wigged-out bombast and imaginative use of dry ice and strobe lighting. Music that stretches out a single moment of tension to a snapping point is more voguish today than at any point in the past 50 years.