When he isn’t thrilling audiences the world over, revisiting Genesis classics, Steve Hackett churns out wildly ambitious solo albums — 30 to be exact. For 2024, he’s made it a little more personal on the conceptual The Circus And The Nightwhale. Over the course of 13 tracks, Hackett and his magnificent band and guests cover the gamut, creating an adventurous, swashbuckling elixir of sophisticated arrangements marinating in a stew of progressive rock theater.
Hackett’s first new album in two years, The Circus And The Nightwhale scales a surreal narrative that mirrors the guitarist’s life as it circles around the plight of Travla, the story’s central figure. With locomotive force and strains of keyboardist Roger King’s orchestrations, “People Of The Smoke” fiercely pushes forward through post-war London. “Talking You Down” is a chiseled player, cut equally with Hackett’s reverb-soaked vocals and stinging leads, plus Rob Townsend’s frothy sax thrown in to stretch the theme as it collects experiences and builds character.
As a singer, Hackett has a proven style that seamlessly aligns within the buoyancy of the music. His smooth delivery on “Found And Lost” gives way to embellished accompaniment from Nad Sylvan and Amanda Lehmann on the pageantry heavy “Enter The Ring.” The hammer falls on “Get Me Out” before the affirmation of “Ghost Moon And Living Love” frames a romantic streak within a simple melody and Hackett’s breezy acoustic work.
“Circo Inferno” encapsulates everything you need to love about The Circus And The Nightwhale and its musicality. Altogether, Hackett, King, Townsend, bassist Jonas Reingold, and drummer Craig Blundell with Malik Mansurov on the tar, twist up the tarmac and lay its foundation. From there, the guitarist salaciously strolls the fretboard on “All At Sea.” Then, as if Moby Dick himself was stirring in the tide, “Into The Nightwhale” stridently rises and spills out a floating symphony of hope and resilience. “Wherever You Are” swims through choppy waters to make good on Travla’s (and, in turn, Steve Hackett’s) efforts at keeping the modern-day circus from being swallowed up by the massive whale of life.
Finally, the instrumental “A White Dove” skips through a field of acoustic daffodils and rest assured, we’re homeward bound. You can sign off with an optimistic smile. With songwriting contributions from King and Jo Hackett, additional drumming courtesy of Nick D’Virgilio and Hugo Degenhardt, extra bits of keyboards by the album’s engineer Benedict Fenner, and an appearance on the flute by Hackett’s younger brother John, The Circus And The Nightwhale easily rates as one of the guitarist’s most accesible, collaborative, and cohesive efforts. And there’s bound to be a follow-up in the works. Bringing the yesteryears of Genesis to concert stages in between bouts of indulging himself in swaths of affectuous creativity — it would almost be criminal for Steve Hackett to stop what he’s been doing so well for the past 50 years or so.
~ Shawn Perry
