Progressive music is sometimes labeled as something that will go over people’s heads. Too many time signatures, tonal shifts, random artistic pretentiousness and so on. Most progressive music gets a bad rep simply because it doesn’t stick to established patterns. While that does allow a lot of artists to just not care and make random meandering mediocrity, Bangalore’s Tangents choose to fit in as many different bits as possible into their new single ‘IGOR’. People with a little spirit for experimentation are in for a treat.

The song has typically heavy production. Tangents has been quiet for the last three years since their debut full-length, but ‘IGOR’ shows a steady level of quality. The song goes from section to section often without warning and always keeps listeners on their toes. There is a combination of riifage and melodic lines that you might see in a Mastodon song or something, especially in the track’s first half. All the elements of the style of music they are going for are present here. There are half-screams and half-growls, some relatively intricate drumming, chunky guitars; you know, the usual suspects. In a way, what ties the song together is how disparate everything is. Want a breakdown? Take three. There’s no particularly easily discernible structure to ‘IGOR’, and the speed and lack of attachment the band for a phrase or section means that they don’t get stuck in anything for a second. The tail end of the track shifts into a cleaner bit and has some lead, which ends up being the most time Tangents spend developing an idea on the song. It’s a nice sonic shift but retains some amount heaviness due to the still aggressive drumming. It’s basically like scrolling really quickly through a bunch of song previews, but in a sort of cohesive way.

‘IGOR’ is a bit odd in that it’s an interesting experience for people with both long and short attention spans. It’s seven and a half minutes long, so it’s long, but section meld into each other and jump around so much that it’s also short in its treatment of individual ideas. In some ways it might alienate both sets of listeners; people who like the furious gymnastics might find there to be too much of it, and people who like drawn-out, full explored and slowly built up music might feel like they’re in a washing machine. But for people willing to explore a combination of the two, ‘IGOR’ is a compelling listen.