The Gardening Club Announces Pre-Orders for The Insubstantial Pageant

Blending progressive rock with a wide range of musical textures and emotional depth, The Insubstantial Pageant continues the band’s tradition of creating immersive, story-driven music that refuses to be confined by genre boundaries.

With The Insubstantial Pageant, The Gardening Club delivers a deeply personal and artistically fearless release that honors the spirit and musical legacy of Wayne Kozak while pushing the band into exciting new creative territory.

Acclaimed reviewer Kev Rowland praised the album, stating:

“This truly is progressive at its core, yet there is so much more taking place as opposed to being purely ‘prog’ as a genre, but instead keeps blending and refusing to accept pigeonhole boundaries which are often put on music when people use labels.

Simply superb, if you enjoy melodic music which is broad and diverse, yet also accessible and enjoyable, while also telling a story, then this is for you.”
— 10/10, Kev Rowland

This album started with a dream I had of being in a huge recording studio, conducting an orchestra in front of a full-size movie screen. The music was clearly supporting the action on the screen. It was dramatic and involving, and I knew this was my music. I was deeply involved and feeling the joy in every harmonic twist and turn, and the thrill of being in front of this mighty sound — so many textures, so many emotions.

I woke up knowing exactly what the story of this film and soundtrack was all about. I jumped out of bed (yes dear reader, I did exactly that), sat down at my computer, wrote up the outline of the story, and sent it to Steve. At the end of this fairly long email I signed off with, “Are you in?” Steve replied in the affirmative, and we were off on The Insubstantial Pageant.

In a way, the seed for all this was sown with Danie Friesen’s voice in Another Country. Her sound was a new instrument, a new emotive texture that I was hugely inspired by, and I realized we could now create this new idea with complete confidence, as Danie would play the role of our main protagonist in what was essentially a spy story.

The basic plot revolves around a young woman whose father left the family when she was young and disappeared. The rumor has grown over the years that he was a spy. Our unnamed heroine sets off on a worldwide journey, following various clues as she travels to many different countries, getting glimpses of this enigmatic, ghostly figure. I knew that this basic storyline would allow us to touch on many different musical cultures as we followed her travels, and this idea was very exciting to me. We could bring in many new sounds and have a great deal of dramatic musical fun along the way.

As usual, Steve was able to bring in a completely convincing emotional tone to the entire proceedings, from Geneva ’46 right up to East Meets West, set in Berlin. Looking For Lorca allowed us to bring in Spanish influences, which gave Kevin Laliberté a chance to display fiery flamenco flourishes. Marrakech took us to North Africa, whose melodies and rhythms have always fascinated me. Kevin, Drew, and Chendy are very familiar with this musical terrain, their work in Sultans Of String often touching on Arabic Maqam scales and rhythms.

As a contrast, Norm Macpherson created a beautiful orchestral coda for Danie’s voice, echoing my original inspiration.
– Martin Springett

The long-awaited eighth album from The Gardening Club, The Insubstantial Pageant, is now available for pre-order. Widely regarded as the band’s most ambitious work to date, the album stands as both a musical journey and a heartfelt tribute to longtime friend, co-writer, and saxophonist Wayne Kozak, who passed away on April 6, 2006.

Track List
1 Ariel’s Song 02:44
2 The Insubstantial Pageant 05:49
3 The Grey Men 06:05
4 Geneva ’46 04:49
5 Diary of a Grey Man 05:40
6 Valparaiso ’56 05:45
7 Chicago (South Side Story) 05:04
8 The Insubstantial Pageant (Reprise) 02:33
9 Looking for Lorca 06:27
10 A Sea of Emptiness (Cuban Sunset) 02:12
11 Marrakech 06:56
12 East Meets West (Berlin 1979) 03:40
13 A Long Distance Call 02:27
14 A Return to the Park 03:06

The Insubstantial Pageant Sessions
Danie Friesen – Soprano Voice
Drew Birston – Fretless Bass
Chendy – Drums and Percussion
Wayne Kozak – Saxophone
Kevin Laliberte – Guitars Keys
Martin Springett – Vocals and Guitars
Ghomas Kinzel – Piano

Produced by Kevin Laliberte
Music by Martin Springett Kevin Laliberte and Norm Macpherson
Lyrics by Steve Bennett

Pre-orders are available now.