The Hypnogogue

The Church reached something of an unexpected landmark point with 2023’s The Hypnogogue – it wasn’t only the first ever Church album that only featured one member of the original quartet, Steve Kilbey himself, it was their first ever concept album, which given their prog noddings seems almost overdue. Yet the conceit is worn lightly, and the whole is a richly textured slow grower – Kilbey nods engagingly to David Bowie on “C’est La Vie” and “No Other You,” and it’s a varied, engaging listen from a still newer incarnation of a legit rock group legend.