Olias of Sunhillow

This is the most ambitious and fascinating solo project ever embarked on by a member of Yes. Jon Anderson played every instrument (guitars, synths, harp, percussion and more) and wove together dozens of layers of vocals to tell the story — oh, it’s a concept album, yes indeed — of four tribes of an alien race leaving their planet and journeying to a new home, led by the titular wizard, Olias. That hardly matters, though, because the music is beautiful, simultaneously pastoral and spacy in a Vangelis-meets-Yes sort of way, with a strong beat at times and some genuinely unearthly vocal harmonies. On “Qoquaq En Transic/Naon/Transic To,” he’s a whole choir, and on “Meeting (Garden of Geda)/Sound Out the Galleon,” he sings in a made-up language without sounding remotely goofy. Anderson’s earnestness has always carried him through, and on this album it’s hard not to get sucked into his twirling space-hippie vibe, especially when the music is this good.