Marillion are a band that were in danger of being confined to my list of bands that I’ll never listen to for the remainder of my life. Why was this? Did I hear anything bad about their music? No, quite the opposite in fact. I’d heard nothing but good things. But, there is so much music in the world, great music, that it’s an inevitability that you’ll never get a chance to listen to most of it. So if someone had mentioned Marillion, it could have been a case of responding, “Yeah, I’ve heard they’re great, I’ll give them a listen when I get a chance” and never actually getting a chance.
But, one day someone I knew introduced me to their song “Easter”, a song about Ireland, that, unlike most songs about Ireland written by non-Irish people, is actually good. And I learned how Marillion, seeing the early potential of the internet, managed to develop a system where they have such creative control of their musical output that they can essentially write any type of music they want. I was intrigued.
But, I wondered was I setting myself up for disappointment. There are many bands that I used to love and respect, that I don’t love and respect anymore. And that’s because, as Israel has spent over a year exterminating the people of Palestine, many musicians still refuse to in any way condemn the mass slaughter, or even worse, actively support Israel, looking at you Radiohead! Would it be the same with Marillion? On the contrary, nothing could be further from the truth. The opening song on Sounds That Can’t Be Made documents the absolute horror that the people of Gaza have been subjected to for decades. Perhaps I could really get to like this band!
I’d like to talk a bit about the guitar playing of Steve Rothery. On this album he offers a masterclass in not overplaying. I’m sure he could shred all over the place if he wanted to, but he doesn’t go for that. Instead of impressing us with flashy solos, he almost acts as a back-up vocalist through his guitar, interjecting with various points as vocalist Steve Hogarth sings.
This being a prog album, there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on rhythmically here, a lot of interesting changes of tempo and time signature, but it’s all very smooth, so often times, you don’t hear it unless you’re actively listening for it.
So let’s get into the songs!
GAZA
Gaza opens with some atmospheric synth sounds and middle eastern sounding vocals. Layers of sound gradually build up until strings accompanied by overdriven guitar play the double harmonic minor scale, that scale that many of us play when we want to convey images of the East. The lyrics quickly convey the fact that they’re not going to fuck around when it comes to describing the horror that has been visited on Gaza.
“They rained down bullets on us as our homes collapsed.”
“We suddenly had nothing, and nothing’s changed”
The song gradually increases in volume, and then the lyrics, “The world does nothing, what can we do” hit you like a sledgehammer.
As a prog fan I sometimes worry that prog can be too concerned with abstract and fantastical topics that have nothing to do with the real world. This song dispelled those fears fairly quickly. Indeed, the vivid descriptions of what my fellow human beings suffer in the city sized prison known as Gaza have me close to tears every time I hear it.
“My father died feeding the birds.”
The song takes many interesting twists and turns. Changes of key, tempo and time signature are abundant, and the song is 17 minutes long. The members of the band talked to people from Gaza to get a picture of the horror that they experience every day.
“I had no idea what martyrdom meant, until my older brother…. I’m sorry, I can’t continue.”
The line, “Some day surely someone must help us”, is especially tragic now. This album was released in 2012, and in 2024, with the mass slaughter of the people of Gaza going on for a year, still the world does nothing.
“But any way you look at this – whichever point of view
For us to have to live like this
It just ain’t right”
If you want to know the lyrics of this song that bring me the closest to tears, every time, it’s this line.
SOUNDS THAT CAN’T BE MADE
And next comes the title track, a song that I think is about how within every human mind is an entire universe of wonder and adventure. As a vocalist I’m envious of how singer Steve Hogarth elegantly flips into falsetto for the chorus, a technique he employs throughout the album, suddenly hitting higher notes that really give the songs a lift.
POUR MY LOVE
There is something about the mood of this song, that just seems perfect for listening to in the evening, perhaps with a glass of wine. Though I’m not a wine drinker myself I’m just guessing this is the right song for that. The chords and vocals just have such a smooth and velvety quality to them. This song is so pleasant and relaxed!
POWER
If Pour My Love is a very smooth and relaxed song, Power is the opposite. This song opens with some very dark sounding minor chords. I’d like to talk about Pete Trewavas’s bass playing, which is such an important part of the verses. His timbre is something half way between a percussive funk sound and something much softer sounding, and his precise rhythm is such an important part of the song. The quieter verses give away to much louder choruses with overdriven guitars, the old “quiet loud dynamic” is used to great effect here.
MONTREAL
A song about a trip the band took to Montreal in Canada as part of a tour. This is the second longest song on the album, detailing everything the band experienced in the city, the frustration of jetlag, and the loneliness of having to stay in touch with their families via Skype, but also things about the city that brought them great joy, such as a visit to the circus, the friendliness of the people who live there, and the “perfect symmetry” Of Leonard Cohen, a Canadian, playing England on the same night that they, an English band, played Canada! Montreal is very structurally interesting, every time the lyrics change to discuss a different aspect of the city, the chords, melody line, and often even the tempo of the song change to reflect the change to a different subject matter.
INVISIBLE INK
A beautiful melancholy song about a person who has difficulty communicating with the person they love. The addition of vocal harmonies and a glockenspiel to this song really add something special here. Funnily enough, out of all the songs on this album, this is the one where it took me the longest to engage with the lyrics, but when it suddenly hit me that this song is about emotional repression it really started to speak to me.
LUCKY MAN
A song with a bluesy flavour about realizing what’s important in life, and becoming a happier person because of it. The song opens with a heavy riff courtesy of guitarist Steve Rothery, then, everything quietens down, as Steve Hogarth describes the various things in this life that many people sacrifice everything to get, but he has finally realized he doesn’t need to live a happy life.
THE SKY ABOVE THE RAIN
You may think prog is all about turning the simple act of playing musical instruments into a complex mathematical equation that few can solve, and yes, it is about that, but prog can also produce some great, “I’m not crying, you’re crying” songs, like this one, about a relationship that might well be coming to an end. Excuse me where did I put those tissues!
This is the first Marillion album I’ve listened to, and it’s their 17th, showing an incredible longevity especially considering many bands don’t even last two albums. I’m really impressed by what I’ve heard here, and I expect I’ll be digging into their back catalog and listening to more. So what are you waiting for, stop listening to me droning on and on and go listen to Sounds That Can’t Be Made!
Ponderings Of An Autist 