Sometimes a connection is made in the most random of ways. I was out walking, enjoying the sprint air and maybe, just maybe the effects of some jazz candy when I decided to listen to Marillion. Within 30 seconds of Misplaced Childhood I stopped and realized THIS is what I was thinking of when I was trying to identify the 80s prog influence I was hearing on Mind out of Mind, the second album from Minneapolis prog trio K’mono. There’s a lot more, obviously: everything I enjoyed on debut Return to the “E” is here expanded, refined, and further removed from their prog fathers. Not to mention that stellar album art; it just might the best cover I’ve seen this year…even though the album came out last year.

Yes meets 80s King Crimson on the massive opening title track, which over 10 minutes breaks into multiple sections, almost a mini-suite. But it starts with a much fuller keyboard sound, choral pads and arpeggiators filling out the space so the trio’s sound is gigantic. When the song really gets down to business it gets positively anthemic, particularly in its chorus. Jeffrey Carlson and Chad Fjerstad stack some serious vocals together on the track, bringing in some serious Yes vibes on the melodic front. There’s a significant rise in ambition on these tracks, listening to the vinyl on a pair of nice headphones the middle vocal section whispers from every direction before breaking apart into some gritty guitar riffs and solos. I somewhat miss the leaner, trio-forward sound the band had on the previous album, but the uptick in songwriting apparent on the title track is a nice comfort.

I’ve read conflicting opinions of the very different sounding “Good Looking” which leans very heavy on streamlined 80s pop. Personally, I don’t know how someone can hear that pitch-perfect guitar tone and those harmonics, the doubled vocals and warm worm melodies and NOT enjoy it. It’s not quite a 180 from what came before, especially if you think about the kind of music a lot of prog heroes from the 70s did once the 80s came around – looking at you, Asia and Genesis. It just happens that sonic shift happens across a single album. The playing is great and intricate, especially on the second half of the song.

That being said, the big prog swing “In the Lost & Found” takes to close out Side A is really engaging. The soundscape is more open, allowing the syncopated rhythm section to really snap and support the great keyboards. Vocally I’m reminded of Gentle Giant, but the music is wonderfully modern and leans into some funky jazz fusion. And it’s here too that Timothy Java’s drums can come to the fore and really shine. The middle section where again Carlson and Fjerstad’s vocals take the lead is a wonder, especially on further listens and you start to move away from the vocals and concentrate on all the small music flourishes that are happening to support the section.

Side B opens with the short, psychedelic intro “Time Will Tell…”. More regal fanfare than full song, I can get behind the more flamboyant sound, especially listening on vinyl as the introduction to the next side of music. That leads into the folky, midwestern acoustic intro to “Tell Me The Lore”. It’s a bouncy number, with the rhythm stabbing into the very poppy melody. The Yes vibes are large in the guitar and keyboard work, and in the highlighting of Carlson’s higher register voice. Another big highlight for me: it may be the jazz candy, but I love the big key sounds, and the vocal jibber jabber at the song’s end. “Millipede Man” anchors itself firmly to the kind of progressive pop bands like Talking Heads (yeah I said they’re progressive…fight me) were injecting into the minds of kids in the early 80s. Very complex with sacrificing catchiness, this is reminiscent in spirit to what Rush were tackling in the 80s, around Power Windows and Grace Under Pressure.

That leaves the final track “Answers in the Glass” to bring us home, and perhaps unsurprisingly it’s a more standard (for a band like this anyway) progressive rock number, still leaning into the 80s but also capturing some of the 70s Kansas vibe in its main rock riff. Everything about Mind out of Mind sounds like a band that took the lessons from their debut and allowed the right amount of time to brew together a potent successor that is making K’mono one of my favorite up and coming bands. Some songs make work for me better than others, but really, there’s no track I would get rid of or replace. I’ve only had these albums for a few months, but I’m already getting impatient for what K’mono will do next, and what new sounds they’ll incorporate into their music.

And again…DAMN that cover art.