Neo psych
Latest album: Everything Goes Somewhere (2023)
Wandering in the Vastness (2021)
I started to plow through this CD upon receipt from the good folks at Trail, but I just couldn't make heads or tales out of it and put it aside for a future evaluation. Two plus years later and that day has finally happened. For the predecessor I wrote: "Sky Cries Mary. Now there's a blast from the past. I haven't thought of this group since the mid 1990s, when they first burst onto the scene. Their 1994 album This Timeless Tuning was all the rage with my running set in those days. I was a bit dismissive at the time, recalling that they were just as immersed into 90s alt rock/indie as they were into neo psychedelia. And I've long struggled to find peace and harmony with the former genre." Secrets of a Red Planet won me over, but Wandering in the Vastness has not, for some of the reasons I mention in my opening prologue. Its very random in its approach, and there's not much in the way of songwriting. It sounds like a product of the 90s, and not the element I enjoy about the decade. There's a lot of music to absorb here and some of it has a nice psychedelic underground and space rock feel. But unfortunately there's not enough here for me to keep. My instincts on the first listen were correct. I just delayed it since Trail was so nice to send it over. I hate leaving anything but positive reviews on welcome submittals, but I just couldn't get into this title.
Secrets of a Red Planet (2020)
Sky Cries Mary. Now there's a blast from the past. I haven't thought of this group since the mid 1990s, when they first burst onto the scene. Their 1994 album This Timeless Tuning was all the rage with my running set in those days. I was a bit dismissive at the time, recalling that they were just as immersed into 90s alt rock/indie as they were into neo psychedelia. And I've long struggled to find peace and harmony with the former genre. But that was 25 years ago, and my life has changed dramatically since then. So I cannot say how I would receive the album today. To be honest I was a bit apprehensive to hear this album after obtaining a copy in the mail about a month ago. I thought Sky Cries Mary were an odd choice for Trail Records - who primarily specialize in Eastern European and Asian space rock - to pick up an old flannel-shirted Seattle based band. But some quick research shows it is I that is completely out of touch (no surprise there...), as Sky Cries Mary not only aren't some reclamation project, but rather a continuing operation. And for the last 11 years they have been part of the Trail Records stable (?!). Nice to see how well I've kept up.
Once the music started, my worst fears faded, and I found the music welcoming on impact. There are most certainly many references to the 90s - a decade, I should add, that I treasure - so that is not a pejorative in my world. The music is, without a doubt, space rock, and it's most certainly psychedelic, in the same way as groups from the 90s were - hence the genre neo psych. There are still some female (and male) vocals, but mostly this is instrumental music with a great emphasis on studio effects, like the great Krautrock masters would do. Guitars and a mass of keyboards lead the way. This is not a stroll through 1970s Vintage Park, but rather modern technology is put to great use. An excellent example of this is 'Trapeze Dancer', which brings in the (gasp) beats, and I found the intermingling of sounds to be quite (pleasantly) jarring in this setting. Part of that reason is the judicious use of them - as that's pretty much the only place that kind of rhythm is used. Otherwise it's good old fashioned drum work propelling the music forward.
While listening to Secrets of a Red Planet, other images from the 90s began to flash by. Including the group Beyond-O-Matic, another Trail Records pickup that we wrote about some 7 years ago. How many of you remember the Kranky label - bands like Jessamine, Magnog, Windy & Carl, and Doldrums? Or the Los Angeles based Farflung? There's traces of those sounds here, but this new effort is far more likable to my ears. Like Beyond-O-Matic, Sky Cries Mary didn't stay content with the past, and has improved considerably upon it. Or at least as my memory would have it. If any of this review resonates in a positive manner, then you represent the target audience. Overall, Secrets of a Red Planet is an excellent addition to the USA canon of space rock albums.
5/19/20; 10/14/23 (new entry); 11/13/23
No comments:
Post a Comment