Sylvan (band)
Encyclopedia
History
Kay Söhl, the two keyboarders Volker Söhl and Matthias Harder, founded the band Temporal Temptation in the spring of 1990. By that summer the band had already played its first gig - the first live performance of the core founding members of the band. In a way it was also Sylvan’s birth. At this time the band played hard rock music and sang in German. Only a small part of their music was progressive rock.In Autumn 1990, the band changed its name to Chameleon, a symbol of changeability, representing the long instrumental parts in their music. The cover artwork had a likeness to early Marillion
Marillion
Marillion are a British rock band, formed in Aylesbury, England in 1979. Their recorded studio output comprises sixteen albums generally regarded in two distinct eras, delineated by the departure of original vocalist & frontman Fish in late 1988, and the subsequent arrival of replacement Steve...
covers and has never been issued. In summer 1991 Marko Heisig joined Chameleon as the lead singer and bassist. Between 1992 and 1994 the band had a gloomy and aggressive tonality to them and in this they were very different from the more rocky sounds of the previous years. In 1992 the first official demo tape of Chameleon was released. With Matthias Koops as lead singer, the second official demo tape was recorded. The title was 'Slaves' and its tracklist was 'Time', 'Slaves', 'Mirror of a Lifetime' and 'Childhood Dreams'.
In winter 1995 one of the band’s dreams was fulfilled: Marco Glühmann, an old friend who played many years before with Chameleon, joined the band. Within the same year the third and last official demo tape was recorded. The tracklist was 'Beren and Luthien', 'Golden Cage' and 'Outro'. All of these songs have merged into Sylvan's first studio album in one way or another.
In 1997 the last live concert took place under the name Chameleon. The band changed its name to Sylvan. Their first cd was recorded in 1998 and the second was released in 2000. The music of the band is progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
with some hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
moments, and some melodic pop-rock elements, probably lingering from earlier in their career. Other apparent influences include psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
rock, a little Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
in the spacey elements, Marillion
Marillion
Marillion are a British rock band, formed in Aylesbury, England in 1979. Their recorded studio output comprises sixteen albums generally regarded in two distinct eras, delineated by the departure of original vocalist & frontman Fish in late 1988, and the subsequent arrival of replacement Steve...
and Genesis
Genesis (band)
Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...
.
Sylvan had engaged several different bassists until in spring 2000, Sebastian Harnack completed the band to care for the basslines permanently – just in time to join the Encounters
Encounters (album)
Encounters is an album by American jazz pianist Mal Waldron and bassist David Friesen recorded in 1984 and released by the Muse label.-Reception:...
-tour that was finished in spring 2002. The five musicians enthralled their audience not only in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, but on several festivals in different Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an countries and even in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. Another highlight was the performance of "Encounters – Das Rockballet" together with the "New Dance Project".
In October 2002, Sylvan released Artificial Paradise
Artificial Paradise (Sylvan album)
Artificial Paradise is the third studio album by German progressive rock band Sylvan. The eerie cover of a hand coming out of a craps table is indicative of the tone of the album itself, as the band has stated that overarching themes of the songs include "society's superficiality, deceitfulness...
, their third album.
Compared to its predecessors Sylvans fourth album X-Rayed sounds rougher and darker. On this album, too, the songs all embrace a single subject: each tells a story about people who try to cope with an emotional encumbering situation. The release party in April 2004 was followed by an extensive tour throughout Germany and Europe (until winter 2005) with two outstanding events: the appearance at the Rites of Spring Festival
Rites of Spring festival
The Rites of Spring festival or RoSfest is a US annual progressive rock festival - established in 2004 - which takes place on the end of April or early in May. The festival was held at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania until 2007, and then moved to the Keswick Theatre in Glenside,...
in Phoenixville, USA, and the support of Marillion
Marillion
Marillion are a British rock band, formed in Aylesbury, England in 1979. Their recorded studio output comprises sixteen albums generally regarded in two distinct eras, delineated by the departure of original vocalist & frontman Fish in late 1988, and the subsequent arrival of replacement Steve...
in Cologne.
Those highlights gave Sylvan important support to cope with the most stressful year in their history. Producing two albums simultaneously that couldn’t be more different entailed an enormous and almost unbearable workload. They released the first of the two albums, Posthumous Silence, in April 2006. The album subject – a father reads the diary of his apparently dead daughter and learns for the first time about her desperation – as well as the complexity of the compositions could by all means have scared potential listeners off. Instead, the music as well as the story manages to enthrall the audience instantly and to touch everybody in a unique way.
The next album is called Presets – which tries to make Sylvan's music known to a wider range of rock fans. Produced at the same time as the predecessor, Presets with its shorter and more catchy songs formed a perfect counterpart.
Shortly after finishing the work on their last two albums another major change in the band took place as founding member Kay Söhl who had been the band's guitarist for many years decided to leave the band. However at the end of 2007 Sylvan was very happy to present a new band member to the public: Jan Petersen who already had been part of the Posthumous Silence - Live Show as a guest guitarist.
Current members
- Marco Glühmann (Vocals)
- Matthias Harder (Drums)
- Sebastian Harnack (Bass)
- Jan Petersen (Guitar)
- Volker Söhl (Keyboard)
Discography
- Deliverance (1999)
- Encounters (2000)
- Artificial ParadiseArtificial Paradise (Sylvan album)Artificial Paradise is the third studio album by German progressive rock band Sylvan. The eerie cover of a hand coming out of a craps table is indicative of the tone of the album itself, as the band has stated that overarching themes of the songs include "society's superficiality, deceitfulness...
(2002) - X-Rayed (2004)
- Posthumous Silence (Konzeptalbum, 2006)
- Presets (2007)
- Posthumous Silence (Live-DVD, 2008)
- Leaving Backstage (Live-Doppel-CD, 2008)
- Force of Gravity (2009)