Versa- A Voyage/A Departure- Progressive Voyages Review PV134
This album is the new album from Canadian Band Versa originally recorded during the covid pandemic with part one being released in September 2022 however the second part was not released until October 2024.
2026 sees the 20th Anniversary of Versa and so they have released a special edition of the two albums together in one package with new artwork from celebrated vancouver based visual artist Amy Winter.
The album is a double cd set consisting of 2 cds- Cd One A Voyage and Cd Two A Departure with a total of 14 tracks over the 2 discs, including 3 epic length tracks, The set also has appearances from many notable Progressive Rock musicians including Dennis Atlas (Toto) Nick D'virgilio (Big Big Train), Eric Gilette (Neal Morse Band), Ross Jennings (Haken) and Kelly Nordstrom (E-Molecule).To name but a few,
The music is symphonic progressive rock music at its finest, long tracks with a very lush sound, The artwork is equally grandiose and looks really fine indeed.
An odd thing is that there is an expanded version to download which features several extra tracks from the sessions of the album you can find it on their bandcamp site here: www.versaversa.bandcamp.com as A Voyage / A Destination Round Trip Special Edition it is certainly worthy of investigation.
Anyway that aside let's delve into the album itself which begins with Pool Of The Niads which is in 4 parts lasting for a total of 15:30 minutes, the track begins with a gentle piano and flute which is then joined by a strong bass line and acoustic guitar, played really well with great clarity you can hear the picking this is then overtaken by the Thunderous hammond organ of Lars Frederick Froislie (of Wobbler).
His cameo whilst brief is certainly most memorable, The track continues in a quieter section with violin and Chromatic Percussion courtesy of Nick D’Virgillio (Big Big Train), we then have a section with massed vocals very similar in style to Gentle Giant, it is a very good section that continues with an urgent drumbeat and some great keyboards and violin, there is a good descending bass line and in tandem withb the keyboards it sounds truly excellent, The female vocals from The Choir of The Naiads is excellent as is the trumpet of Ryan Cole that has hallmarks of Big Big Train's Brass section, it really is splendid, As indeed is the whole track, Fifteen minutes of excellence.
The album continues A Sea Of Vapours, which is a piano led instrumental that falls to guitar and flute which are both beautifully performed,, the violin of Hollas Longdon shimmers suitably sounding most evocative and pastoraland gentle, it is a lovely piece of music well executed by Versa.the interplay between the guitar and the violin is stately and grand.
In turn Latern Season follows this is another instrumental piece this has acoustic guitar and bass to the forefront with the bass line contrasting with the guitar line, there is piano 8n thevmix as well as violin from Hollas Longdon again, Although it is the trumpet of Ryan Cole that really grabs the attention here, The brass is very remniscent of Big Big Train's Brass section, this definitely makes a very positive impression as you listen to it.
Then we move onto the albums lonngest track Voyage clocking in at just shy of 30 minutes duration it is another multi-part piece,This time the vocals come from
Jim Grey (caligua's Horse) and Marjana Semkina (I Am The Morning) these two work very well together as their voices make a harmonious blend. The track begins in a most striking manner with Chromatic Percussion courtesy of Nick D’Virgillio (Big Big Train) this is to feature throughout several parts of this track, it creates a wave of almost hypnotic sound although drums do also feature at times, its an unusual syncopation but I do actually like how different it sounds,
There are two longer instrumental sections that follow these are very good but you miss vocals as the length of these sections make it a difficult listenbat times as the music seems to be as Adrift as the Sailors on the voyage.
The overall effect of the Chromatic Percussion is to create a sound of passage and it is a very hypnotic sound it makes, the track is very long and very interesting but I do feel it loses its way a little bit in the long instrumental mid-section and the reason and outcome of the voyagev being made is a little uncleear or abstract.
Ìt certainly is a good Cd One that is very challenging at times, but one that has somevvery good music throughout its time,
The 2nd disc A Destination is equally as fine, although it has a different style in that it is composed of 9 shorter trackscand one Seventeen and a half minutes track (Artemis) This is the 2nd discs standout track for sure beginning with massed vocals before a heavy riff comes into play from Sam Vallen (Caligua's Horse) this riff falls back for the vocals to commences the vocals come from Michael Rrew leader of Pacific Northwest outfit Amber Electric and most recently with Moon Letters,
The song has another stately trumpet part inbetween all the Hard riff age from Sam Vallen, The song is very good with lots of action and parts that all merge together to make a strong cohesive track, Also the song is long enough to go where it needs to but not so long that is wanders off track.I like how they alternate between all more classical sounds and more straight-forward Rock style sounds, the vocalists all work well together This song about a ship exploring new worlds has some great ideas and interesting lyrics.
There is a lot of music to enjoy here but you will need several listens to get an appreciation of what it is all about, For me I was enthralled by the brass section and how it is used to such great effect.
Info here: www.versaversa.bandcamp.com
Author John Wenlock-Smith Sunday 15th March 2026.