New Artist Highlight: Jazz Pianist Mark ‘Cos’ Tries His Hand at Progressive Rock/Electronica Fusion

With the vocals of Peter Gabriel, the synths of the Starland Vocal Band and a composition fashion the like of Yes, pianist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Costoso’s fashion might be seen as a combined again to say the least, particularly while you throw in his jazz background. It’s an attention-grabbing method wherein Cos deigns to combine all these kinds; progressive rock, adult contempo and electronica don’t all the time make the most effective of bedfellows. Together with his third album, Grace, nonetheless, Cos appears to have discovered his stride.

It appears to have been a big studying curve for Costoso, a lifelong musician who started finding out jazz piano at age 13, to get to that distinctive mix of sound. A transparent progressive and onerous rock fan from his first album, 2002’s The Turning Round. With a heavy affect from the likes of Kansas, Sure and Utopia’s Todd Rundgren, this album was nearly all rock, with only some peeks of piano or keys.

As soon as the primary solo album was out for Costoso, he labored on different initiatives however in 2016 determined that working with bands was extra irritating than rewarding and took on solo producing with much more gusto, releasing the semi-self-titled Cos in September of that 12 months. Now lit up much more together with his virtuosic piano fashion, Costosos’s fashion grew to become rather more jazz-focused and melodic. Tracks like “Mountain or Rope” are so jazzy and fluid, in actual fact, they might be mistaken for Steely Dan or Michael McDonald. This fashion clearly fits Costoso, nevertheless it’s simply as clearly not the entire story.

Cos gave the impression to be a little bit of a turning level for Costoso, because it not solely contained a wider vary of kinds however introduced out his experimental facet. He didn’t need to be only one factor, and the experimental itch was definitely there on this second album, in addition to the primary lashings of digital manufacturing. Now with Grace, launched in late 2021, it appears Costoso has discovered a solution to merge all his musical loves.

From the primary bars of the nine-minute epic opening observe “The Best Present,” it’s clear Cos has discovered a solution to lay all his compositions in the appropriate place. Anchored in his old flame progressive rock, Grace explores jazz, rock, theatrical manufacturing, a great deal of several types of synths and electronica, each within the sound design and the foregrounds of every observe.  With “The Best Present” containing clear nods to the likes of Jethro Tull and Sure, second observe is a merging of 80s synth pop and these progressive greats by way of layers and layers of inventive classic synth work.

From the all-piano title observe and extra experiments in merging 60s and 70s prog rock with 80s new wave, Grace strikes surprisingly into modern-era progressive metallic/nu metallic with all its lush manufacturing and depth with the Resurrection collection of tracks. With an intense vocal contribution by an unknown feminine vocalist, followers of Evanesence particularly will get pleasure from these tracks.

One other large change value noting that makes a giant distinction in Grace is Costoso’s vocals. He appears to have discovered a texture and timbre that works for him on this album, going extra raspy and mushy in a lot of the tracks somewhat than belting every little thing to the rafters. The impact is extra of a connection between the music and the vocal melody, in addition to a extra emotive impact for the viewers. That is useful in ballad-style tracks like “Gina,” or jazzy numbers like “Salt Hay” the place Costoso’s voice takes on a form of Van Halen-era David Lee Roth high quality but additionally in tracks with sharper synths like “Wanderlust,” the place a gravely, Peter Gabriel or Chris Cornell-style vocal brings a pleasant contrasting texture to the sound. It’s composition choices like this which make Grace stand aside as a development from Cos’s earlier albums.

Together with his fashion clearly nonetheless evolving, Grace appears to be the discharge the place Costoso as Cos has actually discovered his sound, particularly compositionally. Placing collectively jazz, prog rock, electronica and extra has bought to be one powerful balancing act, however on this seminal album, it appears Cos is now strolling that tightrope with ease.

Grace is out now and could be streamed on Spotify or bought on Bandcamp.