Last week I was fortunate enough to interview Rob Cottingham of the band Touchstone. It was clear from his answers how much hard work, commitment, and faith had gone into the making of the band's first full length album Discordant Dreams. The result is a superbly crafted, wonderfully produced, intoxicating mix of progressive rock, AOL and driving chords that fuse together to make a highly impressive album.
Touchstone and the album come highly recommended with none other than Jeff Wayne describing it as ‘stunning, passionate music with wonderful singing’ and Asia’s John Wetton declaring it simply ‘fantastic’. Heady stuff indeed and recent reviews have only added to the huge sense of achievement in producing an album on a reasonably limited budget that has had the great and the good reaching for new superlatives.
Touchstone came together in 2003, an amalgam of keyboard player Rob Cottingham and guitarist Adam Hodgson. Bass player Paul Moorghen joined in 2006 and drummer Al Melville the following January. Their style was progressive rock with Rob citing early Genesis as a major influence whilst Adam mentions the very same Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds epic. Adam had released a solo instrumental album and once Rob heard it, they met and the seeds were sown for what would become Touchstone. Rob was also listening to such bands as Asia, Porcupine Tree, and Pink Floyd among others and all those elements can be heard hidden deeply away on Discordant Dreams.
In early 2007, they added female vocalist Kim Seviour and her addition provided the last magical ingredient to the project. Discordant Dreams is an epic album, on one level easy to listen to and on another containing darker moodier elements that combine to give the album an effective and highly memorable atmosphere. The production is highly impressive and the song writing is exceptional, clearly capturing a strong collective belief in the material. It never once gets pompous or overblown, remaining within its own original aims and is all the more powerful for it.
The album runs smoothly from the opening chords of the title track to the finale of the two part “Beggars Song”. Discordant Dreams commands your attention throughout whilst providing moments of sublime beauty. The vocals are a standout element with Rob combining with Kim to provide the songs with an extra dimension. The opening “Intro” is a haunting Arabian soaked dream sequence that opens out into the striking chords that kick the album off.
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