Ghosts In The Park by Bruce Soord, 2026 album.
In a rather unusual way compared to all the reviews I’ve done, I chose to start with this sentence, which struck me immediately while listening to the record:
“Mother it’s me, do you remember?”
It’s in the lyrics of the album’s first track, titled “Concepción”, lasting just 1 minute and 25 seconds, which although it was born as a brief introduction has lyrics of immense emotional impact; here it is:
“Mother, it's me. Do you remember pushing out to sea with me?
Mother, it's me. Do you remember this hand in yours?
It's yours.
Shipwrecks in the harbour
Surrender to the sea
With the longest wave goodbye
Mother, it's me, do you remember?”
The piece captures the anguish and acceptance that come with an illness that only those who have lived it firsthand can truly understand: Alzheimer’s, which also affected Bruce Soord’s mother. The line “Mother, it’s me. Do you remember?” is repeated like a heartbreaking plea, painting the picture of a son trying to be recognized by his own mother as her memory fades inexorably.
Maybe I could stop here; themes this deep set to music with such an ability to convey emotion are rare, but I step out of this moment of emotion and return, as a music lover, to talk about this artist and the record, which is one of the finest released in recent years and deserves all my and your attention.
Bruce Soord is a British singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and sound engineer, known worldwide as the founder and frontman of The Pineapple Thief, one of the most influential progressive rock bands on today’s scene, which I’ve written a lot about on this blog.
In 1999, after an early experience with the duo Vulgar Unicorn, Bruce decides to follow his musical vision and creates The Pineapple Thief. At first, the project was a solo studio venture, with the debut album “Abducting the Unicorn” (1999). After the success of the third album “Variations for a Dream” (2003), Bruce begins playing live with a fixed line-up of musicians, turning the project into a real band. The big breakthrough comes in 2016 with the arrival of drummer Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree, King Crimson). Together, they create acclaimed albums such as “Your Wilderness” (2016), “Dissolution” (2018) and the recent “It Leads to This” (2024).
Beyond The Pineapple Thief, Bruce explores a more intimate, restrained side of his music with Wisdom of Crowds (2013), an experimental electronic and electro-acoustic project made with Jonas Renkse, singer of Katatonia.
Since 2015, Bruce has released albums under his own name for the prestigious label Kscope. These include “Bruce Soord” (2015), “All This Will Be Yours” (2019), “Luminescence” (2023) and the latest “Ghosts In The Park” (2026).
In addition to playing, Bruce runs his Soord Studios in Yeovil and is one of the world’s most in-demand sound engineers for Surround 5.1 and Dolby Atmos mixes. He has worked on the production, mixing and audio restoration of albums for major names in rock, metal and prog, such as Opeth, Jethro Tull, TesseracT, Riverside and Anathema.
Ghosts In The Park is his third solo album, released in May 2026 on Kscope. This work represents an extremely intimate and personal moment in his life, and you can hear it in the emotions it stirs while listening. Soord composed the album over two years, taking advantage of breaks during the long tours with The Pineapple Thief. The songs were born in improvised settings such as hotel rooms, dressing rooms and backstage areas, then completed in his personal studio. The record explores themes such as grief, memory and human fragility, reflecting the calm and solitude the artist felt while travelling. This essence is perfectly captured by the line on the album label: “Songs written between loss, love & hotel rooms.” (Songs written between loss, love and hotel rooms.)
The album cover, perfectly in tune with the emotions conveyed, shows a grainy, nostalgic photograph of Bruce inside a park. The cool tones and the aesthetic reminiscent of old analogue-developed shots help create a melancholic atmosphere. The inner sleeve, instead, offers a glimpse of life, immediately evoking the feeling of an interrupted memory.
This album marks an important turning point for the leader of The Pineapple Thief, who leaves progressive sounds behind to embrace a decidedly more acoustic, intimate and essential approach. The arrangements are pared down to the minimum, with the acoustic guitar up front, recorded so you can clearly hear the noise of fingers on the strings. Soord’s voice is confidential, almost like a secret whispered in your ear.
Synths and electronic elements are used sparingly, creating an ambient sound bed that fills the empty spaces and gives the album a suspended, dreamlike atmosphere. Many tracks are very short, under two minutes, as if they were fragments or sonic notes jotted down on the fly during a trip. This gives the album a fragmentary structure, like a personal, intimate diary.
Despite the melancholic, grief-related themes, the melodies remain enveloping and accessible, thanks to a great ability to blend the delicacy of modern folk with a strong pop-art sensibility.
“Concepcion” is an instrumental, evocative prologue, led by an acoustic-guitar arpeggio. The sound is deliberately raw, with a folk lament that introduces a bare, acoustic atmosphere. The lyrics, made up of very few whispered words, serve as a painful introduction to the mother’s Alzheimer’s. A son, voice breaking, pleads: “Mother, it’s me, do you remember?”, likening lost memories to shipwrecks. A track of great emotional power.
“Pillars” is a short track but with great impact. The style is folk-rock with country shades. The song explores the emotional chaos that accompanies grief. The line “This house is not in order” (“This house is not in order”) suggests the loss of familiar reference points and the start of a spiritual journey in search of oneself. The contrast between the doubled, fragile and delicate voice and the country-folk groove is simply splendid.
“Meet Me On The Downs” is a folk song that explores the theme of mortality and the inevitable return to entropy. It tells the heartbreaking experience of someone who must sort through an entire life, contained among old clothes and family photographs. The final line, whispered, is memorable and leaves an indelible mark.
“Kept Me Thinking” stands out as one of the album’s more structured compositions, a true masterpiece that blends traditional acoustic textures with a subtle, atmospheric electronic pulse. The track features Jon Sykes on bass. It is a moving monologue about guilt and regrets that haunt the artist during nights spent on tour. Soord sings “What I failed to do” (“What I failed to do”), expressing his pain over the things left unsaid before his father’s passing. Sykes’s bass lines weave flawlessly with the ambient electronic loops, creating a striking sonic atmosphere.
“Day Of Wrath” is a hypnotic track that stands out for its unique sound within the album. The first part is dense with geometric repetitions, a hypnotic phase that culminates in an explosion of sharp, aggressive electric guitars, representing the moment of anger, the “day of wrath”. The guitar counterpoint and the distorted burst in the second half help create a powerful, gripping atmosphere.
“Our Predicament” is a classic melodic ballad, marked by bare arrangements and a harmonically enveloping chord progression. It explores resignation in the face of life’s inevitable hardships, as suggested by the line “We always knew we’d end up in this predicament”. The song reflects on the struggle to communicate when the barriers of illness or distance become insurmountable. The chorus, emotionally satisfying and typically “Soordian” in intensity and drive, adds a further layer of depth to the track.
“Stared Down” is a raw, intimate track, with beautiful arpeggios by Soord. The piece explores the metaphorical weight of family legacies, with lines like “You left me a debt I can never repay” (“You left me a debt I can never repay”), which express the impossibility of filling the void left by parents. The final electric-guitar solo is simply beautiful.
“You Made A Promise” is a short, heartbreaking acoustic track, marked by a bare and vulnerable voice. It is one of the album’s most devastating lyrics. The son lays out his fragility by asking an impossible question: “You promised you would always take care of me – now is it a lie?”. The vocal performance, aching, trembling and without any protective filter, elevates this track to a modern work of art.
The title track, “Ghosts In The Park”, is an almost 13-minute acoustic piece that closes the album. It unfolds slowly through repetitive dynamics, layering sounds until it reaches an emotional climax. It represents the path toward healing and acceptance. The ghosts of the title appear one by one, haunting the mind before dissolving. It is at this point that Soord stops running from the pain of losing his father and sits beside his memories. The final progression is simply wonderful, with the instrumental intensity pushed to the limit before fading into absolute silence.
The world of music I love most, Prog, of which this artist is a top modern interpreter, has accustomed us to admiring in a work the technique, the virtuosity, the complexity, the explosions, the variations, the progressions, the power of sound, the intricate compositions, the atmospheres. Then Bruce comes along and lays himself bare. He talks to us about things we know and tells them with the voice of a man like us, yet he manages to do it in music in a new explosion—this time of emotions. Powerful album. Masterpiece.
My Version
Label: Kscope – KSCOPE1314
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: UK & Europe
Released: 15 May 2026
Tracklist
A1 Concepción
A2 Pillars
A3 Meet Me On The Downs
A4 Kept Me Thinking
A5 Day Of Wrath
B1 Our Predicament
B2 Stared Down
B3 You Made A Promise
B4 Ghosts In The Park
LineUp
Bass Guitar – Jon Sykes (tracks: A4)
Performer [Performed By] – Bruce Soord
Producer [Produced By], Mixed By – Bruce Soord
Words By, Music By – Bruce Soord
Listening links on the main streaming platforms at the following links:
Spotify: Listen to the full album directly on the artist’s profile via the dedicated page Ghosts In The Park on Spotify.
Apple Music: Find the high-quality streaming version on the dedicated Apple Music page
Bandcamp: To stream the album without limits and directly support the artist by purchasing lossless digital formats (FLAC, 24-bit), visit the official page Bruce Soord on Bandcamp.
Qobuz: If you’re looking for the highest audio resolution to appreciate the acoustic nuances (Hi-Res 24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo), the catalog is available on Qobuz.
Note: All links to the musicians' works are in the TAGS under the article title or on the "Artists"
