---

In my first year at secondary school, there was a boy in my class by the name of Waters. He wasn’t the most obedient of pupils, and the form master decided that a lesson in behaviour was in order. He told Waters to stand on a chair so that the boy was leaning out of the open first-floor window. Our teacher then intimated that, if his behaviour didn’t improve, he would throw the boy out onto the tarmac drive below. I don’t know what Waters thought about this, but it terrified the rest of the class. And, from then on, there were no more disruptive interjections in the master’s lessons.

We christened the window ledge “Water’s Edge”.

That was all a long time ago, and my memory is very hazy now. But, when notice of an upcoming gig caught my eye, Serendipity took me by the hand and led me to this album:

There are several bands with the same name, but this particular Haze is from Sheffield, and they describe their style as rock, folk, metal and psychedelia. That’s an unlikely combination. Either they have found a brilliant blend of contrasting styles, or they flit haphazardly across the style map like a jittery butterfly. Let’s start streaming and see.

Dipping our toes into the water, we find that the opening track, Flight Behaviour, has elements of pop, rock, folk and psychedelia, sitting somewhere between The Beatles and Jethro Tull. It’s a pleasing blend, not a butterfly flit, which makes for a promising soft prog song. Looking ahead, we can see that the current takes us through pretty prog rock territory, but with one or two interesting meanderings.

If you think the world has gone to wrack and ruin, listen to the lyrics on track 2 and take comfort in the knowledge that you’re Not Alone. Paul McMahon, the composer and lyricist, is with you. His words have a sharp edge that carves through the flood of superficial sound bites and gets right to the heart of the modern malaise. Crotchety Man is with you, too. This rock song’s lyrics should be pinned up on every teenager’s bedroom wall as both a warning and a call to political action.

Do you wish the world was kinder
Do you wish the world was fair
Do you fear the news and hide your views
and wallow in despair?
Do you think we’re led by donkeys
Do you think we’re fed on lies
Do you think the howling mob drowns out
the voices of the wise?

 You’re not alone

From Not Alone by Paul McMahon

At track 4, the water course bends sharply. The Outlandish Knight tells a story from the folk tradition, jamming multiple music genres abruptly together. It inverts the tale of Willy O’ Winsbury (as told on Pentangle‘s Solomon’s Seal album) so that the hero becomes the villain. It even borrows lyrics from the traditional version: “He’s mounted on a milk-white steed, and she on a dapple grey”. But, instead of a poignant love story, we get a dramatic murder fable. The song is sharply divided into folk, metal and prog sections with jagged transitions. It’s a fidgety skipper of a butterfly, visiting flowers of strikingly different colours.

A little later we are Drinking with the Devil, and he is not happy. We buy him a tequila (a double) and, over the driving beat of a rather good rock band, he tells us that he has lost his purpose in everlasting life. He can no longer send human souls to an afterlife in Hell because those Earthly beings have lost all trace of a conscience. They no longer have a soul for Satan to claim. And, while we feign commiseration, the band rocks on with brash guitar licks, solid organ and soulful horns.

This is an album that grows on you. If you like Genesis‘ Trick of the Tail, you will warm to The Water’s Edge immediately. And, if at first you find the sudden changes of style unnerving, after two or three plays, you will acclimatise and be able to savour the tunes, the arrangements, and especially the lyrics. And, if you’re in the Southampton area on 15th December, you can catch Haze at the 1865 venue on a double bill with Nottingham prog rockers, Zopp.