Breaking The Chains

He’s been described as a “psychedelic polymath”, and Gong’s Kavus Torabi lives up to that title on his timely second solo release, The Banishing. Reflecting on the challenges in his personal life and the “heroic dose” of hallucinogens that led to its creation, The Utopia Strong and Mediæval Bæbes member discusses the healing power of music.

Rob Hughes

Lockdown meant different things to different people. For Kavus Torabi – ravenous musical polyglot, Gong frontman, Knifeworld leader, solo artist and one third of The Utopia Strong – it became unbearable. Deprived of his various creative outlets, he hit crisis point. “It made me realise that I do all those things because I go mental if I don’t,” he tells Prog. “And that’s exactly what happened. The interesting thing about going mad is you don’t realise you are. Ultimately, I found that making this record became a way out of the madness.” The record Torabi is referring to is The Banishing, his second solo album. It covers a lot of deep psychological terrain, from traumatic break-up to self-therapy to healing epiphany, serving as a kind of aural purgation. It is,…

You're reading a preview of

Prog Italia (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 152

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.