The long-awaited studio album from Texas prog-rockers Proud Peasant, Communion provides a link from the band's 2021 album Peasantsongs to the future. Whereas Peasantsongs was a collection of rare singles and sonic curios, the late 2023 release of Communion pushes the band into its collective destiny. Led by bandleader and composer Xander Rapstein, Proud Peasant still sports a great lineup of musicians.

With Xander handling all kinds of electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards, the album also features key contributions by a range of musicians including David Houghton (guitars), Millicent Hughes (keyboards), Mark Poitras (keyboards) and Clif Warren (bass). Also contributing are a number of other fine players that help fill out the band’s tracks. All the players contributing to Communion are listed in the CD liner notes, while further liner notes by Xander Rapstein provides further insights into his history.

Whereas Peasantsongs was mostly an instrumental prog-rock affair, Communion maintains its instrumental edge yet several tracks do feature some excellent vocal arrangements that are kind of reminiscent of key prog-rock bands from the early / mid 1970s like Gentle Giant, Gryphon and perhaps Supertramp. Yet, make no mistake about it, Communion is a contemporary prog-rock affair that glistens like a musical diamond. With so many sonic vantage points to appreciate, the listener is never at a loss to discover the musical magic of Proud Peasant.

Subtitled The Soundtrack To Sublime Dreams and Wicked Nightmares, Communion will soon be followed up with Dreeing The Weird, the planned next album by Proud Peasant.