ANTON ROOLAART – THE BALLAD OF GENERAL JUPITER (Moon June Records) (2026)

Press release: Moon June Records in collaboration with Wandering Willow Records present the latest release from multi-instrumentalist Anton Roolaart “The Ballad of General Jupiter”. Entirely composed and produced by Anton — except for the closing track Yesterday and Today (written by Jon Anderson of Yes), this album marks another bold step in Anton’s artistic evolution. Blending rich musical textures with evocative and lyrical storytelling, “The Ballad of General Jupiter” is a collection of sonic tales — snapshots of imagination, emotion, and resilience. With echoes of David Bowie, Pink Floyd, early Genesis and Caravan, Roolaart paints vivid musical portraits shaped by imagination, introspection, and social consciousness as he explores not only personal themes, but also broader reflections on a world grappling with chaos, greed, and injustice.

Review: ‘Amsterdam’ is autobiographical, reflecting on Roolaart’s return to his native Netherlands with nice guitar textures. Global warming and working time machine headlines introduce the title track, a well-arranged song with a progressive guitar/organ/ synth/ piano passage of play. ‘The Cry of Seven Doves’ clocks in at 9 minutes and is augmented by Wouter Schueler’s sax and flute and expresses environmental concerns, guitar and synth delivering the lead lines backed by dynamic drumming by Bob Kirby and Anton’s bass with subtle guitar and percussion in the “Hold on” section topped off by a piano/ spoken part (why spend money on weapons rather than saving the planet?) and ending with atmospheric guitar as Anton sings “We’ve got to give our children a chance to dance”. ‘Touch Your Desire’ is played in art pop mode while ‘Star Child’ relates to the David Bowie Ziggy era – nice guitar break. ‘Rain’ is one of the longer tracks at 6:30 with wistful flute, a cinematic feel and a touch of the exotic east in the synth and sultry sax (very Pink Floyd-ish), a definite highlight while ‘And the Sky Turned Yellow’ has flute, sax and organ and guitar and prominent bass work in places- the vocal is a little awkward in the context of the music. Yes’s ‘Yesterday and Today’ closes the album, a pretty faithful rendition with some fluid guitar work. Composer/ producer/ jazz man Rave Tesar augments the album with his keyboard work.

More a direction of travel than the finished article perhaps (the singing is a little strained in places) there is much to enjoy for melodic prog fans and I suspect that this album is the start of something really special – future exploits are anticipated.