Progress

Progress is the new  EP from Wigan guitarist Mark Peters, four instrumentals recorded between September 2022 and September 2023. Mark's work is frequently related to place, to psychogeography- his Innerland album from 2018 contained eight ambient/ cosmische guitar and synth songs named after north west locations- Ashurst's Beacon, Mann Island, Shaley Brow among others. His second album- Red Sunset Dreams- was inspired by the wide open spaces of the American West and an imaginary landscape of Americana and pedal steel guitars but merged with some Wigan shoegaze. This version of the song Sundowning was recorded live in Yorkshire last year, a stunning, atmospheric eight minute take on the song. 

The new EP takes inspiration from sunrises over Pennine hills and a view of Manchester from the distance, a city built on mills and steam power now reinventing itself as a modern, post- industrial city, a city with an ever increasing number of skyscrapers visible from miles around, and with questions about progress being asked. 

Cinder Flower is slow paced, with a chiming guitar lead line in no hurry to get to its ending. As ever, there are echoes of Vini Reilly's guitar playing in Mark's and the clean, unfussy playing of Michael Rother. Guitar Fumes, Car Films opens with a synth and then a rising and falling melody line, guitar with chorus and reverb pedals, and drum machine clattering away. Golden Circle Game slows things down, a cinematic piece of music with a 1950s twang to the guitar. The final track, #1 Peter Street, is a gorgeous lament, string bending and echo, Mark's cross pollination of Americana and cosmische at a peak. 

Progress can be heard and bought at Bandcamp.