For who truly loves music, it's always a joy to see new inspired musical projects created by artists that perhaps, in the last three decades, have worked mostly behind the scenes in many bands, often being the real bone machine of said bands and now getting together creating something that sums their years of experiences in the business, allowing them, at the same time, also to apply their own personal spin and vision on the way they feel and see music in 2024.
Today Was Yesterday is one of those fine projects, born from the will of two multi-instrumentalists like singer/songwriter, bassist, guitarist, pianist and programmer Angelo Barbera and powerhouse drummer, percussionist and programmer Ty Dennis, with the purpose to cross over the boundaries of what is currently considered contemporary Progressive Rock, by expanding its overall sound through the application of layers of Funk, New-Age and Synth-Wave added to what is seen as the standard sound structure of Prog-Rock, as a genre.
Dennis and Barbera crossed path for the first time back in '97, where at the time they both worked for the American new-wave band The Motels. Few years later, in '01, they found themselves making music together with the Robby Krieger Band, where Barbera was part of, at the time when the Krieger's collective was looking for a new drummer, with Barbera recommending Dennis as the ideal candidate for Krieger's band.
Given the many years both Dennis and Barbera spent on the road working with different bands, it wasn't very difficult, for both Today Was Yesterday's band members, to convince some of their fellow friends artists to take part, as Special Guests, on some of the songs included in Today Was Yesterday's eponymoyus debut, like Robby Krieger himself (on 1 track), Rush's guitarist Alex Lifeson (on 6 tracks) and a very respected and talented keyboardist like Ed Roth (one track).
There are many inspired moments, into Today Was Yesterday's debut album, all coming from both Dennis and Barbera's phenomenal musicianship. Both artists shine in their own right, bringing the right dynamic at the right moment in each of the 10 songs part of the album, with Dennis bringing his classy, ferocious and imaginative drumming with such impressive style, especially on songs like A Louder Silence, Borrowed and My Dog Is My Dog, among others, while Barbera, together with providing some amazing musicianship on bass, guitar and programmer, particularly on tunes like Rukus, Faceless Faraway Song and I Take All, also shines very brightly as a singer on songs like On My Own and the closing My New Low, where his vocal qualities really emerge beautifully.
Although missing a little beat here and there on some of the album's songs, Today Was Yesterday still impresses on so many levels, in our opinion. The vision, musicianship and creativity expressed on the band's debut record scream an overall quality that just begins to show just how much this inspired project is potentially able to deliver in future, through Barbera and Dennis combined huge musical craftmanship. The future of Prog-Rock is in absolute solid hands, thanks to Today Was Yesterday.
Today Was Yesterday is out now and it is available via Music Theories Recording.
