DUKES OF THE ORIENT Make New Song ‘The Dukes Return’ Available For Streaming
July 6th, 2020
 John Payne and Erik Norlander |
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Progressive rock project Dukes Of The Orient – a collaboration between vocalist John Payne (ex-Asia / GPS) and keyboardist Erik Norlander (Lana Lane / Rocket Scientists) – have made the track ‘The Dukes Return’ available for streaming via YouTube, which can be accessed below.
Dukes Of The Orient issue second full-length studio album Freakshow on August 7th, 2020 through Frontiers Music Srl. The outing can be pre-ordered here.
John Payne commented: “Working on the second Dukes Of The Orient album has been a very cathartic experience. The addition of Alex Garcia, guitar, and Frank Klepacki, drums, was a very positive move for a more signature, cohesive sound. As with the previous album, we continue our rich analog keyboard approach layered with guitars by myself and Alex. Mixed and recorded on a traditional board with vintage outboard, we wanted to create an echo to the past and write songs with strong melodic content.”
Erik Norlander added: “Freakshow is much more focused both in concept and in sound as it was written and recorded in a single year with a tight group of musicians. Our debut album came out fantastic, but it was recorded over a period of 10 years with many different contributing musicians, and in many ways it sounds like that. Freakshow has the cohesiveness of vision where the same five musicians performed all the material that was written expressly for this album. I also think our writing on this album is more focused for the same reasons. After working together for so many years, I can write a vocal melody for John, he can write a keyboard part for me, and the parts just work right out of the gate.”
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The track listing is as follows:
01. ‘The Dukes Return’
02. ‘The Ice Is Thin’
03. ‘Freakshow’
04. ‘The Monitors’
05. ‘Man Of Machine’
06. ‘The Last Time Traveller’
07. ‘A Quest For Knowledge’
08. ‘The Great Brass Steam Engine’
09. ‘When Ravens Cry’
10. ‘Until Then’
Dukes Of The Orient’s line-up is as follows:
John Payne (vocals, bass, and guitar)
Erik Norlander (keyboards)
Freakshow’s recording line-up also includes the following:
Alex Garcia (guitar)
Frank Klepacki (drums)
Eric Tewalt (saxophone)
A music video was filmed for the track ‘The Monitors’, which can be viewed below.
Dukes Of The Orient’s self-titled debut studio record was released in February 2018 via Frontiers Music Srl.
Promotional photograph by John Payne.
