Roine Stolt has announced the formationof a new prog group, The Sea Within. Joining him in the new venture are fellow countrymaen and sometime Flower King/Agent Of Mercy Jonas Reingold and Daniel Gildenlöw (Pain of Salvation), plus Marco Minnemann and Tom Brislin (Yes).

Prog met up with the band at North London’s Livingston Studios in London as they recording the basic tracks, and found an instant chemistry in the way they worked together.

“Going into the studio in London was taking a great risk as we had not been in the same room together beforehand,” Stolt told us. “We had just sent demos around and didn’t really know if we could make great music together, but we managed to track almost 2 hours of new music, a mix of collective ideas from the whole band. We also had a lot of great ‘off-time’, sharing laughs and stories in local pubs – that part is important.”

The band are putting the finishing touches on their debut album, and of the music’s direction Roine says: “There are elements of prog, but also pop, art-rock and many cinematic elements. I suppose the music comes from within our collective memories of all that we love as far as sounds, visions and poetry. We hope that discovering this band will be a journey for the open-minded prog fan - something as fresh and uncertain and unfolding as it is for us.”

The as-yet untitled album will be released through InsideOut Records in Spring 2018. The Sea Within have also confirmed their first live appearance, at this year’s Night Of The Prog alongside Camel, Big Big Train, Riverside and more.