Nearly one year ago, Andy Foster's innovative project-band, Kite Parade, unveiled their debut album, The Way Home. This record swiftly captured our hearts at Prog Radio and earned a permanent spot in our regular rotation. Impressively, it secured the 5th position on our Top Albums of the Year list for 2022. Needless to say, we were overjoyed to discover that Andy didn't waste any time in producing Kite Parade's follow-up album, Retro, presenting us with a new selection of songs to enjoy and play.

Could Andy possibly match the brilliance of his first album?

Not only did he match it, he surpassed it!

Clocking in at approximately 47 minutes with six tracks, Retro delivers pure harmonic bliss. Having successfully captured the essence of melodic progressive rock twice now, it's becoming apparent that Andy possesses a songwriting talent reminiscent of greats like Neal Morse, John Boegehold and Steven Wilson. (Yes, I said it, and if that grabs your attention, it should. If you're a fan of melodic prog, you need to familiarize yourself with Andy and Kite Parade.)

While Andy handles much of the musical work for Kite Parade, he once again relies on exceptional contributions from other talented musicians. Notably, Nick D'Virgilio lends his drumming expertise to most of the tracks.

Similar to the first Kite Parade album, Retro artfully blends progressive elements with melodic tones, and also like the first album, culminates in an approximately 15-minute epic finale.

Prog Radio is all about “melodic and accessible” Prog, so you can bet we’re currently featuring several of the songs from Retro in regular rotation. If you’re not familiar with Kite Parade, you won’t find them on the streaming services, so become familiar with them at Prog Radio then head over to their website (link below) and pick up both of their amazing 5-Stars albums.