Pete Ross and The Sapphire

The Boundless Expanse could possibly be Pete Ross & Sapphire’s opus, but you never know with these two! Harkening back to retro-sounds spanning folk-rock, kraut-rock and hallucinatory prog-rock, this Gesamtkunstwerk allows their listeners to tap into their own interpretations.

The new album is markedly different from their previous album Rollin On Down The Lane in so far that is has truly epic proportions, as suggested by the title.
The first track, ‘The Alarm Has Sounded’, begins with a SOS Morse code signal, followed by a brief drum intro. Immediately after, the band breaks into intense and prophetic thunder before Susy Sapphire’s resonating voice comes in to issue the alarm. In many respects, this opening track can be seen as something of an overture stretching over whopping 9 minutes!
Leading directly into the question ‘Have You Seen The Incubus?’ – a zappy upbeat number bursting with rhythmic energy – from that one we go straight into the groove of ‘Nobody Knows’, a tale of a mysterious man clad in black and with a head like a toad… call him a prophet man? Nobody knows, though I know that the song kicks up a fair bit of fuzzed-up wah-wah guitar on that dusty road. Give us a slug of gin then!

On next track ‘Existing In A Bubble’ Susy takes over the main vocals and evokes a Sixties sound. This one could easily have been a big hit for Sandie Shaw or Dusty Springfield, although the bubble in question refers to the outer limits of our consciousness. Seeing how we are now in the Sixties, this should get you nicely primed for the next track ‘Sleep Child’: echoes of acid-Krautrockers Amon Düül conjure up a psychedelic pattern in our mind with Pete warning the child not to sleep forever. Here, the musical arrangement can only be described as a crescendo of cosmic sound.
After such an electrifyingly engaging number we are in need of something a little more downbeat and this is exactly what we get with ‘Postcard To Mary’, and a plaintive postcard it is! In particular the harmonic structure reaches out to grab you and ensnares you in. Lyrics such as, “We never finished up what we had planned to do, it makes no difference, no difference does it make” refer precisely to what I pointed out at the beginning, namely that listeners can tap into their own interpretations.

Penultimate track ‘Gossamer’ comes on all complex and multi-layered and could be seen as the most serious track of them all – a summing up, a warning and a majestic anthem… with Pete crooning for all that it is worth.
However, there is light at the end of this tunnel with the closing track ‘Are We Leaving?’ and hopefully we have all been woken up by the alarm that Pete and his Sapphire referred to in the opening track.

Apart from the multi-talented Pete and Susy Sapphire, the album furthermore features Alessandro Deidda on drums/gong, plus special guests The Winstons, Enrico Gabrielli on flute, and Lino Gitto/Roberto Dellera on Rhodes ‘n’ backing vox.
Have the courage to boldly go with our duo where no man has gone before – you may not come back but you might find yourself in an altogether better place!