PENDRAGON rely more than ever on the positive power of emotional music

16. March 2020

Pendragon

Angst, Liebe und Erhabenheit - PENDRAGON setzen mehr denn je auf die positive Kraft emotionaler Musik

January is definitely not a month for water sports in England. A perfect time for hobby surfer Nick Barrett to promote the new Pendragon album "Love Over Fear". It took about six years to complete, and it represents a new turnaround in the band's history: away from the somewhat harder pace taken in 2005, back towards neo-prog.

eclipsed: Your new album is finished. How does it feel?

Nick Barrett: It's the very rare case where you think: Yes, that's exactly what I wanted to do! I am really very happy with the album. It was also a lot of fun to record it. It was much less stressful than usual. Maybe that's because I've been living in Cornwall for a while now, not far from the sea.

eclipsed: What took you so long?

Barrett: Sometimes two or three years is just not enough. People underestimate what is involved in organisation, talks with the record company, promotion, etc. So far we had such a long break between two albums, that was between "The Masquerade Overture" and "Not Of This World". That's when I got divorced, this time there were also two events in between that made my life fall apart: the move to Cornwall and the death of my father. I thought a lot about everything during this phase and for a long time I didn't feel that it was already time for a new album. And then I also wanted to have more time to surf.

eclipsed: You weren't just lying there rotting?

Barrett: I play guitar every day, I have ideas every day, be it new music or lyrics, I am creative every day. I've also been playing piano a lot lately to write music. My goal was to record an album that would tie in with my favourites from the 70s. I have never or rarely used a 12-string guitar or Mellotron sounds, although I love both so much. I love "A Trick Of The Tail", I love "Moonmadness" and "Dark Side Of The Moon"! This is the sound I wanted to create.

Read more in the current issue ...