Between them, these three albums package six years of songwriting, recording and production by duo Ian Grove and Nigel Mervyn, who both fed voraciously, during their formative years as musicians, on the music of the prog pioneers including Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, Camel, Van der Graaf Generator and Caravan. While these main influences may be apparent in the sound and structure of Court Lake Zephyr’s music, you’ll also detect a noticeable lean towards the music of pop-rock acts as diverse as The Beatles, Crowded House, The Tubes, 10CC, Queen, Prefab Sprout, Divine Comedy and It Bites. However, even at their most ‘pop-tastic’ on, for instance, 'Life is a 4-Letter Word' (album 03, track 7), Court Lake Zephyr can’t help themselves as they slide back into prog again during two instrumental breaks.

Ian Grove

Lead and backing vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards.
Ian also runs a successful PA hire business and is an experienced professional sound engineer working with some major acts, having been at the helm - on both Front-Of-House and Stage Monitoring - at venues and festivals around the world including Glastonbury, Wembley Stadium, Wembley Arena, The London Palladium, the Kremlin Palace Theatre and Donetsk Stadium in Ukraine.
Guitar hero: Steve Hackett. Keyboard hero: Tony Banks.

Nigel Mervyn

Drums, bass, lead and backing vocals, keyboards.
Nigel has his own sound design business, composing music for radio, video soundtracks and identity music, which includes support music for a major car launch. He has mentored four fledgling music acts and arranged and produced their music, gaining radio play for all four, and ‘song-of-the-month’ for three of them, on BBC Introducing. He also designs and produces the album art for Court Lake Zephyr.
Drum heroes: Phil Collins, Bill Bruford, Bernard (Pretty) Purdie, Steve Gadd.

Prog Magazine says...

Issue 128, March 2022 - Review of album 03:
"UK duo Court Lake Zephyr wear their golden-era influences on their sleeve on their second release.
Ian Grove and Nigel Mervyn reckon their promising 03 is best enjoyed with “a high-quality set of headphones and wine/beer/whisky”, but booze isn’t really necessary to absorb the melodic ideas, clever twists and meaningful lyrics abounding on this likeable slice of homespun prog".

Issue 157, January 2025 - Review of Scales from the Ophidian Fair:
"Finally, British duo Court Lake Zephyr proved themselves in 2021 with their second album, perversely called 03. Now they’re back with Scales From The Ophidian Fair and Ian Grove and Nigel Mervyn seem to have honed in on the sweet spot of their pleasing collaboration. With a nod to the symphonic intelligence of Genesis, theirs is clever, melodic, 80s-inflected music drawing on everyone from Prefab Sprout to The Blue Nile to the mellower moments of It Bites’ catalogue (vocally, Grove sounds like Francis Dunnery at his most chilled). Plenty of imaginative, meaningful explorations here".