This Baroque tinted Progressive Rock act has a somewhat fuzzy history which goes back all the way to 1989. It is apparently the year when the foundation of the current band was laid. Wackily enough, they were already known as Tucana and re-named themselves from Wistaria. With the name change, keyboardist Jonas Nitz left, leaving singer Niklas Birgersson and keyboardist/ guitarist Magnus Carlberger (both also the songwriters of the band at the time) with the task of goin' in search for new members to make their band work.
In came Mikael “Micke” Larsson on guitar, followed by Magnus Andersson on drums, and with the joining of bassist Johnny Rosengren in March '89, the band was almost complete...because the complexity of the band's new music demanded a separate keyboardist. The band muddled on for a moment, and after the release of a first 5-track demo, found Mikael Gullmes by the end of that same “founding” year. The band then recorded a 12-track demo and started rehearsing for upcoming shows, when a kink came in the cable, as Rosengren got into a disagreement with the others, and left the band in April 1990. A new bassist by the name of Liffe Johansson was then recruited for the shows and an upcoming new demo, but shortly after Larsson also left. Wistaria continued on for a while, but their punch was gone, as well as the lust to play...and for a while it looked like the end of the band was nigh! Out of the blue, Birgersson re-united with Larsson, and they started working with guitarist Stefan Lindgren. To record a demo in 1992, and for old times sake, Rosenberg was asked to join the new project. At the same time, Larsson was apparently also in another project involving Carlberger, and this continued on for a couple of years.
By the end of the previous millennium Birgersson and Larsson, who had continued to work together, decided that it had better be under the Wistaria monicker again, even if noting came out of that at the time. Then, in 2008, the original keyboardist from when the band was still named Tucana, namely Jonas Nitz, came back into the fold, helping out the band to restructure its songs. Shortly after, they re-recruited Johnny Rosengren once more to play the bass, and in 2010 new drummer Jari Katila was inducted into the line-up. Shortly after that, recordings (engineered by Nitz, and co-produced by Rosengren and mixing engineer Mikael Lundin) for this official debut album started. However, it wasn't easy going. Besides several recording and other problems happening (which have greatly troubled the band to get its recordings down), they also had to change their name, in order to not get mixed up by another band now operating as Wistaria. Eventually, things came out well after all, and along the way Dutch label Art Performance Production was found willing to release the album too! As a taster to the album, a single for the track “A Dream Within A Dream” was released on October 31st of last year, less than a week before the full-length.
Now, you've already read the main elements composing this band's music. They are indeed a Progressive Rock band with Baroque leanings, but with a very strong modern touch to it! The singer is prime quality, so anyone into the Prog thing should find Tucana to their liking! Songs (10 for a 65:42 length of album) vary in length from 4:04 to 8:41, but never does the feeling creep onto one, that a song is either too short or too long. For samples of all songs, check the album's page at CDBaby, Amazon, or iTunes (links can be found at (www.) tucanamusic.com.