"Common Ground" is Big Big Train's new release

The prog revivalists caught in reflective mood

This album could not have been released. After the sudden exits of Dave Gregory, Rachel Hall and Danny Manners in 2020, Big Big Train’s Greg Spawton and David Longdon wondered if the band might have run their course. Ultimately they realized there was more to be done, and the 13th Big Big Train album is here. Common Ground is the sound of the core members – Spawton, Longdon, Nick D’Virgilio and Rikard Sjöblom – regrouping, refining and hunkering down, together. With the help of some new faces and trusted sidemen, they’ve distilled the band’s essence and forged some of the best music yet.

Common Ground’s central theme is communication, communality and (every middle manager’s favourite phrase) ‘reaching out’.

There are weak songs and strong songs. These are the three (out of nine) that I prefer:

The title track that has an XTC-like playfulness, but best of all are two contemplative songs from the band’s founder, Gregory Spawton, forged during a year of introspection: Dandelion Clock and Endnotes are quite unlike his usual third person tales – melancholy has rarely sounded so seductive.