Paradigms by T.A.P

This album saw its first track created in 2014 by Michael Jobborn with Mark Cook, which came about after Michael helped out Gayle Ellett in 2012 with some promotion for his Djam Karet band. Gayle then asked Michael to contact Mark to help him with promoting one of his Herd Of Instinct releases. This went on for a couple of years, after which Michael had an idea to work on a song with Mark. To his surprise, Mark agreed to this. The song sounded really good to Michael which spurred him on to do more songs, perhaps even a full album.

By 2018 there were 4 pieces that feature on this first album, with another in the pipeline with Michael. During 2019 Michael helped out Suzi James with the promotion of Fearful Symmetry’s debut release, and decided to ask her if she would be up for working on this 5th song of the album. She agreed, and although a start was made, the album had to be put on hold due to Covid and life in general.

In 2022 Michael once again contacted Mark to help complete the album, and felt that “Suzi did such an amazing job on the Silence From The Storm track” that he asked her to participate on the rest of the album.

Michael then reached out to Gayle Ellett to see if he would be up for joining on the album. He was more than happy to help out. Very quickly, Gayle sent in his contributions for the tracks.

Michael randomly came across Paul Sears in a chatroom for Progrock.com where he asked Paul if he would be interested in adding drums to Silence From The Storm. After hearing the song in its current form, he jumped on board and joined in for that track. Michael previously learned about Paul’s great drumming through his friend Cyrille Verdeaux of Clearlight some years previously, when he was helping Cyrille out with promotion.

As the album neared completion, Mark proposed a Herd Of Instinct mix of the Silence From The Storm track, with Bill Bachman invited to add drums for this alternative version. The rest of the band enthusiastically embraced the idea. The result is a slightly shorter punchier version which the band agreed should be added as a bonus track.

Michael: “This is how the album came to be and is what it is today. A wonderful group of progressive rock musicians joining together to create something unique. We hope to do a follow-up album in the future, possibly adding a few guest musicians along the way. Hope you all enjoy the album.”

Reviews/Quotes
“A progressive experimental collection of music that has thrown out the formula book to give way to free form moods, mental atmospheres and innovative sound design. Definitely something to enjoy in its entirety . Digging it!”
Simon Collins (‘Sound Of Contact’, ‘eMOLECULE’ )

“Wow - I love it. Very impressed. Great moods, great progressive grooves, awesome guitar, gritty keys, solid bass, very cool stuff!”
Matt Dorsey (‘Sound Of Contact’, ‘In Continuum’, ‘Dave Kerzner Band’)

“T.A.P’s “Paradigm" is a compelling return to the roots of prog with a 7 superb tracks waxing musical tapestries infused with jazz fusion and rock. At times it made me think of the supergroup UK or something from Bill Bruford's 'Masterstrokes'. It is an exciting listen filled with interwoven melodies, rhythms and musical themes.”
Kelly Nordstrom (‘Sound Of Contact’, ‘eMOLECULE’)

“It's been an absolute blast though.... guitar technique and tone to die for throughout, some really inventive arrangements with prog, ambient, hints of jazz fusion, blues, even a bit of carnival haha. Fab keys and orchestration, some very inventive percussion - lots of room for the music to move and groove but never descends into indulgence. It's well outside my usual comfort zone but when everyone brings their A Game like that and creates the right moods and can move seamlessly through those kind of arrangements it's a winner. Production is really good. Delicious basslines.. Silence From The Storm! Yum”
Charlie Bramald (‘Ghost of the Machine’)

"Very spacey and old school but right up my alley!”
Alan Baillargeon - NewEARS Prog Show

“If one changes the perspective from a supporter right into an actor; the result might be: brilliant!

Mike Jobborn and the debut of his latest project, T.A.P, demonstrates this perfectly. An instrumental album to be listened to in many different occasions. You can take a walk with it, or do hot Indian cooking or just lay down on your sofa and listen! Not easy to keep excitement up with an instrumental album, but Mike did it here with Paradigms. Silence From The Storm is the definite proggy highlight of the album (well, for me it is), additionally we have slightly jazzy parts and psych moments on the album as well. Suzi James adds her wonderful guitar skills in the right moments, famous Mark Cook (Herd Of Instinct) shoots Warr guitar tunes as well; excellent! Gayle Ellett (Djam Karet), Paul Sears (Daevid Allen, Steve Hillage) and Bill Bachman (Herd Of Instinct) on drums make this project A Band!

If you like the instrumental corner of the PROG universe, you‘ll love Paradigms. A neat piece of work!”
Larne Peters - ProgAlley.eu

T.A.P is a studio-based musical collaboration with the aim of producing an instrumental fusion of ambient sounds with
elements sourced from genres including, but not limited to, progressive rock, blues, jazz, psychedelic, and ethnic influences.