Having led Swedish prog rock favourites The Flower Kings during the 1990s and 2000s, singer-songwriter Roine Stolt gathered together friends, acquaintances and some of Europe's most revered and experienced session musicians to form the typically symphonic and epic-sounding supergroup The Sea Within in 2017.
The idea first came about at the suggestion of independent label Inside Out Records and, with Stolt using his connections to recruit keyboard player Tom Brislin from touring with Yes, German drummer Marco Minnermann from The Aristocrats, former Flower Kings cohort Jonas Reingold on bass and guitarist Daniel Gildenlow, who'd previously fronted Pain of Salvation, long, sprawling jam sessions first kickstarted the band. The combination naturally created a giant, towering celebration of prog rock fantasies that paid homage to the genre's pioneers like Genesis and King Crimson, but metal influences, jazz-style improvisations and electronic experiments all added to the mix.
With the members sharing vocal duties to create even more diversity, Jon Anderson from Yes and Texan singer Casey McPherson from Alpha Rev also made guest appearances on their self-titled debut album in 2018, which was an unashamed, grandiose sonic swamp of swelling ambience, shrieking synths, soaring melodies and lengthy guitar noodling. The band went on to make their debut at the Night of Prog festival in Loreley, Germany, whilst Stolt also continued to work as a duo with Jon Anderson.
