Few bands in progressive music carry the mystique, longevity, and restless creative spirit of Soft Machine. Emerging from the fertile Canterbury scene of the late 1960s, the group has continually reinvented itself across decades, shifting from psychedelic rock to jazz fusion and beyond. Their latest release Thirteen—aptly their thirteenth studio album—feels less like a milestone and more like another chapter in an ongoing musical evolution.
Formed in Canterbury in 1966, Soft Machine originally featured Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Mike Ratledge, and Daevid Allen. They quickly became pioneers of the so-called Canterbury scene, blending psychedelia with jazz improvisation and avant-garde experimentation. Their early work helped define progressive rock’s more exploratory edge, standing apart from the symphonic grandeur of contemporaries by embracing abstraction and spontaneity.
Over the decades, Soft Machine has undergone numerous lineup changes, with more than twenty musicians passing through its ranks. Despite this, the band has maintained a distinctive identity rooted in improvisation, complex rhythms, and a seamless fusion of jazz and rock. The current lineup—featuring guitarist John Etheridge, multi-instrumentalist Theo Travis, bassist Fred Thelonious Baker, and drummer Asaf Sirkis—continues that tradition while pushing the music into new territory.
Thirteen is a conceptually neat project: thirteen tracks on the band’s thirteenth album, marking nearly sixty years of existence. The record is entirely composed of new material, signaling that Soft Machine remains forward-looking rather than reliant on nostalgia.
From the opening moments, Thirteen establishes a mood that is both exploratory and controlled. The band’s trademark blend of jazz fusion and progressive rock is intact, but there is a noticeable emphasis on atmosphere and texture. Theo Travis’s saxophone and flute lines drift and spiral through the compositions, often acting as both melodic anchors and improvisational launchpads. Meanwhile, John Etheridge’s guitar work alternates between fluid, almost lyrical phrasing and angular, jazz-inflected bursts.
One of the album’s defining features is its balance between structure and improvisation. Unlike some earlier Soft Machine recordings that leaned heavily into free-form experimentation, Thirteen feels more composed, with clearly defined motifs and recurring themes. Yet within these frameworks, the band allows itself space to breathe, stretch, and explore. This tension between discipline and freedom is where the album truly shines.
Fred Thelonious Baker’s bass playing is both grounding and adventurous, often providing subtle harmonic shifts that reshape the direction of a piece. Asaf Sirkis, a relatively recent addition to the band, brings a dynamic and responsive drumming style that enhances the music’s fluidity. His ability to move effortlessly between intricate time signatures and more open, textural playing adds depth to every track.
Highlights of the album include the discordant “Seven Hours”, the flighty “Disappear” and the improv-jazz of “Which Bridge Did You Cross?”.
Thirteen is not a nostalgic throwback or an attempt to recapture past glories. Instead, it is a confident, mature statement from a band that has spent decades refining its craft. It demonstrates that Soft Machine is still capable of innovation, still willing to take risks, and still deeply committed to the spirit of musical exploration that defined its earliest work.
Donnie’s Rating: 8/10
