Signal Meridian Reimagines Strawbs Classic on Debut Single “Heartbreaker” on Blue Élan Records feat. Members of Grace Potter, David Bowie, Moody Blue
Listen to “Heartbreaker”/Pre-order Signals in Autumn: https://signalmeridian.lnk.to/heartbreaker
Watch the lyric video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNtvicrV0cw
Today, August 19, 2026, Signal Meridian releases their debut single “Heartbreaker” from their upcoming album Signals in Autumn on Blue Élan Records. “Heartbreaker” reimagines the Strawbs track of the same name from their 1977 release Burning for You.
Signal Meridian sounds like a forgotten progressive-rock group of the ‘70s. It’s not. It’s happening right now. It’s a collective of top-flight session musicians and vocalists enlisted by Blue Élan Records co-founder Kirk Pasich to reimagine and reinvent the song catalogs of underappreciated artists from the progressive rock genre and beyond.
Signals in Autumn, the first of a planned four initial chapters (all featuring different groups), is inspired by the music of Strawbs, a U.K. band that has reinvented itself four times, and produced such alumni and collaborators as Yes’ Rick Wakeman, Fairport Convention’s Sandy Denny and Blue Weaver, a keyboardist who went on to play with the Bee Gees and Average White Band. Formed in 1963 by Dave Cousins and Tony Hooper as the bluegrass duo Strawberry Hill Boys, the band transformed into British folk-rockers among contemporaries such as Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span, Fotheringay, Pentangle and Richard and Linda Thompson. A progressive art-rock phase ensued with keyboardist Wakeman before Strawbs launched into a more hard-rocking, commercially successful phase in 1972 with the addition of singer/songwriter/guitarist Dave Lambert to the writing team of Cousins and Chas Cronk.
“From bluegrass to folk to prog to rock, Strawbs kept reinventing themselves,” said Pasich. “I wanted to reintroduce great songwriters in a contemporary way, with world-class players and singers. Also, to remind people that prog is not just in 7/4 time with 43-minute-long tracks and technical proficiency.”
While at UCLA in the mid-1970s, Pasich became a fan of not only Strawbs, but progressive acts like Kansas, Triumvirat, and Camel, and has long wanted to redeem the often critically ignored, maligned genre. The 10 Strawbs tracks on Signals in Autumn come from six studio albums released in six years. All those albums, including stints on the A&M, Oyster, and Arista labels, are represented on Signals in Autumn, none of them cracking the Top 100 on the U.S. charts — Bursting at the Seams (1973), All Our Own Work (1973), Hero and Heroine (1974), Nomadness (1975), Burning for You (1977), and Deadlines (1978).
With Pasich at the helm, the idea was not a tribute or covers album, but a chance to “reveal new versions just as rich and rewarding as pop recordings that revisit early songs, with fresh ears and artistic freedom.”
Kirk tapped keyboardist Sasha Smith as co-producer “to help shape every aspect of the recording process.” Smith is an L.A.-based musician who has worked with a wide range of artists, including Cat Power, Ariana Grande, Ann Wilson, Sia, and the Wallflowers, and released a solo instrumental album, New Leaves, on Blue Élan. They were joined by a veritable all-star team, including guitarists Val McCallum (Jackson Browne, Lucinda Williams, Sheryl Crow and his own Jackshit combo with Elvis Costello drummer Pete Thomas) and Nashville-to-LA native Adam Gimenez (Paris Jackson, 3OH!3, Savannah Pope). The group is rounded out by bassist Kurtis Keber and female drummer Jordan West, who double as Grace Potter’s rhythm section, along with longtime Billy Idol keyboardist Paul Trudeau (whose own solo album, Lost Diamond Boy, was released on Blue Élan last year). The four lead vocalists include Blue Élan’s Bernie Barlow (eight years with the Moody Blues, plus Sarah McLachlan and Melissa Etheridge), Vanessa Bryan (Lady Gaga, Gwen Stefani, The Killers, Idina Menzel), Holly Palmer (David Bowie, Gnarls Barkley, Dr. Dre, Allee Willis), and Jordan West (who also has a solo album on Blue Élan on tap).
Signals in Autumn offers the perfect showcase for those powerful female voices, with Bryan belting out “Heartbreaker,” the first focus track, featuring some jagged guitar riffs from McCallum and Gimenez, a track from ‘77’s Burning for You, while Bryan’s and Barlow’s pipes make “The Last Resort,” the second single, one of the album’s highlights. The eclectic styles represented, from Bryan’s slow-burning ballad “Carry Me Home,” Palmer’s take on “Don’t Try to Change Me,” and the Stonesy-Chuck Berry R&B number, “Little Sleepy,” given a raucous treatment by Barlow, to the epic three-part art-rock set piece, “Autumn,” with lead vocals by Jordan West, show how eclectic the band’s primary songwriters – Dave Cousins, Chas Cronk, and Dave Lambert – really were.
The album was recorded in five days at Dave’s Room Recording Studio, engineered and mixed by Steve Olmon, and mastered by Stephen Marsh of Marsh Mastering. Signals in Autumn is the first of a four-part series that will reimagine overlooked songs of the past, not necessarily just in the progressive genre, either.
“Progressive rock provides the starting point because it contains a remarkable body of songwriting that I believe deserves continued exploration,” Pasich pointed out. “But the philosophy itself isn’t limited to progressive rock. Great songs exist everywhere. What will connect future Signal Meridian projects won’t be style or instrumentation. It will be craftmanship, emotional honesty and the belief that exceptional songwriting continues revealing new possibilities over time.”
Pasich is planning for an eventual Signal Meridian tour and looking to brand the semi-permanent collective in the mode of the rotating cast of characters in the Alan Parsons Project.
“The core musicians will largely stay the same from album to album, though we may use an occasional guest vocalist,” he noted. “But this stuff isn’t easy to play live.”
Signals in Autumn will release on October 23, 2026.
Track Listing:
1. Cut Like a Diamond
2. Carry Me Home
3. Little Sleepy
4. Don’t Try to Change Me
5. Lay Down
6. Heartbreaker
7. I Don’t Want to Talk About It
8. The Last Resort
9. Autumn [Suite]
10. Who Knows Where the Time Goes
CD Bonus Tracks:
11. Cut Like a Diamond (Radio Edit)
12. Heartbreaker (Radio Edit)
13. Autumn Heroine’s Theme
14. Autumn Deep Summer’s Sleep
15. Autumn The Winter Long
Listen to “Heartbreaker”/Pre-order Signals in Autumn: https://signalmeridian.lnk.to/heartbreaker
Watch the lyric video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNtvicrV0cw
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