“We always want to do something different with each record – to try to evolve, and see if we can bring something new to the table,” says Ingo Dassen, guitarist with Dutch art-prog collective Lesoir. Their new album, Tomorrow Is Now Today, marks the next leap forward in the group’s musical journey.

Dassen describes 2024’s Push Back The Horizon as “more of a rocky record, more straightforward. Before that we released the Babel EP, and before that we did Mosaic, which was more progressive, with more Pink Floyd-ish influences.

People liked those records, so we had the idea of finding some combination between them – expanding with extra instruments and extra dimensions. We always try to create, record and write a song that the fourth or fifth time you listen to it, you discover a new detail. I think we’ve succeeded.”

If Push Back The Horizon found Lesoir in rock mode, “now we’re more into an electronic, beat-driven phase.” The elements that define their music – the layered guitars embellished with keys, flute and pedal steel – remain, but Dassen says they’re more focused on the rhythms this time, “which is cool; it gets you moving.”

Tomorrow Is Now Today was produced by John Cornfield, who they’ve worked with since 2011’s Transience. The producer captures the full breadth of Lesoir’s sound, eschewing a keep-it-simple mentality.

“John is a dear friend,” says Dassen. “He always says, ‘More is more’ – which in fact is the case. He’s just a legend. After all these years, we don’t really have to discuss it. He knows what we want.”

On their earliest recordings they played live in the studio. Now they track drums and bass together, then the guitars; but they’re not looking for perfection.

“We don’t do much by way of repairs,” says Dassen. “We always go for the golden take, and for us that take is not necessarily perfectly played.

“It’s the take that has the most emotion and gives the best vibe to the song. You hear us laugh, you hear us coughing, and sometimes you’ll hear us slip up on a string. It makes it human.

“We like to have a record that you really hear us playing, not over-produced or over- processed.”

Tomorrow Is Now Today is on sale now.

Shaun the Sheep’s latest foray into Hollywood might have been significantly more metal if Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi had agreed to write the theme music.

Iommi has revealed he was approached to contribute to the score for this year’s movie Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, but had to turn it down because he was too busy.

The in-demand musician was working on a track with Robbie Williams when the request came in last year. And he was also getting ready to work with William Shatner on his heavy metal project, as well as his own new solo album From The Dark.

With all of that to contend with, Iommi simply didn’t have the capacity to get involved in the hugely successful animation franchise.

Asked about the most “bizarre thing” he had ever worked on in his career, Iommi tells Planet Rock: “Apart from Sabbath you mean? I was asked to do Shaun the Sheep as well. I didn’t do that!

“They were doing a movie and they wanted some theme music for it. But no, we’d got too much on. I’d done the Robbie thing and trying to do my own album, then the William Shatner thing. That’s enough for now!”

Iommi joked that he wouldn’t rule out taking on a project like Shaun the Sheep in the future, adding that “it’ll be Peppa Pig next.”

He also discussed Sabbath’s 1983 album Born Again with Ian GIllan on vocals. Widely considered the band’s most controversial album, fans – and Gillan himself – have spoken about the quality of the record’s production.

Iommi says he does plan to have the album remixed.

He says: “Yes, there is a plan. To be honest, we couldn’t find those tapes for a long time. They disappeared.

“But they were in some record company storage. And anyway, we’ve gotten them back and they were transferred. So they are ready to start work on.”

The full interview can be viewed below.