is the first chapter in the 's ambitious four-album cycle. In total, the project contains 24 songs spread over more than two hours and will be released in parts over several months. Each entry is accompanied by its own glorious film by documentary director and creative arts polymath . It is a modern musical interpretation of The Story of Layla and Majnun, an epic 12th century Sufi poem written by Nizami Ganjavi about star-crossed lovers. Its themes explore interpersonal relationships, spirituality, frustrated desire, and the search for transcendence. The poem inspired ' . So important is the album to , they performed it at the 2019 LOCKN' Festival. During 2020's COVID-19 lockdown, singer read the poem and asked the band to consider its narrative themes as songwriters. Their writing centered on Layla being as "unattainable as the moon" and placed on a pedestal. "What would Layla have to say about all this?" became the album's m.o. Opener "Hear My Dear" is a midtempo ballad featuring twinned guitars, simmering organ, and lilting percussion over wordless backing vocals and horns. sings "As we watch the world go by/There's so much we search to find/Holdin on to memories gone away...I was lost in the wilderness/That's where I heard a song." ' slide appends the verse, playing sweet and tender. sings the celebratory "Fall In." Piano and slide guitar exchange accents in the foreground as handclaps and a snare/hi-hat shuffle frame his vocal. Horns punctuate the sung lines as the tune morphs into a New Orleans R&B feel while flirting with gospel. and keyboardist offer "I Am the Moon" as a moving, spiritually insightful dialogue between lovers, asking poignant questions with generosity and insight. The band emerges gradually but ratchets up the musical energy to anthemic intensity as horns, slide guitar, and drums wind around them in a swirling frame. intros "Circles 'Round the Sun" in a raga-esque drone before horns, bass, and drum kit follow. Keyboards buoy 's vocal, which maintains tension between soul, blues, and rock. When she sings "Do you know my name? Can you save me from this love?" it's a desperate prayer underscored by thunderous horns, funky clavinet, and killer sax and trumpet solos. The 12-minute closer, "Pasaquan," is an instrumental epic. It flows around a funky organ vamp before unwinding in an orgy of exploratory jazz, swamp rock post-psychedelia, and jam band groove. At the nine-minute mark, ' solo alternately references the ' "Mountain Jam, Jessica" and 's "Third Stone from the Sun" before making room for solos by others. He returns, carrying it out with another stirring solo. is dazzling in concept and execution. embrace this narrative with ambition, and expose its lessons with creative imagination, emotionally intelligent songwriting, and mind-blowing musicality. ~ Thom Jurek