Songs shorten and moods swing wildly on IZZ’s 10th album Collapse The Wave

When the pandemic hit soon after this previously fairly prolific bunch released their ninth album Don’t Panic in 2019, and plans to tour went awry, the core members of IZZ looked elsewhere for a while to flex their creative muscles.

Vocalist Laura Meade released two solo albums, helped by partner and Izz producer John Galgano, alongside contributions from bandmates Tom Galgano and Brian Coralian. John Galgano relaunched his own record and guitarist Paul Bremner took the opportunity to do the same.

Meade’s longtime co-vocalist in IZZ, Anmarie Byrnes, isn’t listed as a contributor to Collapse The Wave , which might be one reason why this album has a sharper sense of contrast between light and shade in its songs – immediate and melodic when Meade’s vocals take centre-stage, knottier and more angular when Tom Galgano is chief narrator on the mic.

The band’s love of Yes shines through once more on There’s Hope , as jazz-rock chord jumbles and pirouetting keyboard flourishes are blended with rich vocal harmonies. Jon Anderson -style musings on the cosmiverse can also be heard on tracks such as We Are The 3rd .

They employ a gutsy rock punch at times too – Brace For Impact employs staccato riff stabs and Delia Derbyshire -ish synth eeriness either side of observations such as: ‘ We are the first in the whole of creation / there’s nothing between us and our destination .’

The simpler arrangements are just as striking, though. Haunting, love-lorn piano ballad Deep Inside is led by Meade’s emotive tones before building into an irresistible duet with Galgano. The pace-breaking shift is repeated when gentle acoustics and soft organ light up Sometimes Sublime , before it swells into a sweeping anthem further intensified by Bremner’s ecstatic guitar work.

The 11 songs are relatively concise – the longest track clocks in at eight and a half minutes – without the kind of long-form compositions found on previous Izz albums. That may be why at times it feels like they’re falling back on similar-sounding tricks, such as the variations on quick-quick-slow time signatures – as if they’re making it choppy because, well, that’s what prog is meant to sound like.

When they use such techniques to create a mood, though, it works a treat, as on the arrestingly anxious Not About Me , wherein guitars screech neurotically while Galgano and Meade trade vocals of conspiratorial uncertainties: ‘ Isn’t everyone supposed to be happy? ’ they enquire at one point. Fair question – but like writing verse-chorus songs in 4/4, where’s the fun in that?

Collapse The Wave is on sale now .