A constant rotation of members can be the death knell for some bands, for others it can have a rejuvenating quality, and UK supergroup Asia definitely fall into the latter category. With a role call that reads like a Premier League football squad, Asia have a long a storied history, yet it feels as if this band has always been about the present, and for their latest album, Indigo, keyboardist (and sole constant member) Geoff Downes has assembled a line-up that’s intent to hit the creative peaks whilst retaining that flair for writing catchy, commercial tunes, and Indigo confidently ticks both boxes.
It has been twelve long years since Asia’s last album (2012’s Gravitas) and any album a dozen years in gestation is bound to come with a certain weight of expectation. If there was any doubt that time might have blunted Asia’s songwriting chutzpah, or if there were worries about this line-up’s musical chops, then they are blown out the water by opening track ‘The Traveller (Into The Light)’. The keyboard motif that introduces the song seems to be a soothing balm sent to soothe any worries about the band’s vitality; while certainly not generic, it seems to encapsulate all that made Asia great; life-affirming and spiralling upwards, it explodes from the grooves with unbridled effervescence and when the rest of the band kick in, well, life doesn’t get much better. Driven forwards by a powerful beat, it sweeps the listener along and finds the band’s compass orientated towards the future.
Asia are a band who’ve always walked a fine line between an adult-orientated-rock, FM radio sound and a more experimental, progressive edge. Their success (both creative and commercial) has always been dependant on how well they balance those scales (ideally a 50/50 mix). How those scales are weighed is very much down to band personnel, and it feels as if they have reached the right blend with this line-up; Virgil Donati (drums), John Mitchell (guitar) and Harry Whitley (bass, vocals) all joined the band in 2024 and the preceding two years spent writing and recording this record have found them gelling very well. It finds the chart-bothering potential of Is This The Life?’ nestling next to the three song suite ‘Tattoo Indigo’ quite effortlessly, the latter veering into prog territory, the former pop, yet both making easy bedfellows.
Whist Indigo has its sights set on the future, Asia haven’t torn up their roots, either. Several of these songs were written with John Wetton and have roots reaching back to 2015, and they make a fitting tribute to the much missed vocalist. Elsewhere founding member Steve Howe returns to add his magic to the ethereal and otherworldly ‘Chesapeake Bay’, and it is this meeting of past and present (another fine balancing act) that places Indigo right in the present. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait another dozen years for a follow-up, but if we do, Indigo will make that wait all the easier.
- Indigo is released via Frontiers Label Group on 6th November 2026.
- Asia Official Website
Track List:
1. The Traveller (Into The Light)
2. Change Of Heart
3. Arcadia
4. Is This The Life?
5. Tattoo Indigo (Part 1)
6. Tattoo Indigo (Part 2)
7. Tattoo Indigo (Part 3)
8. Life In The Sun
9. Hymn For The Fallen
10. Night And Day
11. Valencia (The Ghost Ship)
12. An Elegy
13. Chesapeake Bay (Featuring Steve Howe)
14. On A Winters Night
15. Echo Of You
Bonus Track:
16. Tattoo Indigo (Part 3) (featuring Mike Portnoy)
