Here Below

A marching band, tom groove with some crazy dynamical high hat and cross stick interplay opens In My Time. This Radiohead type of Latin-pop is felt from the get go. The track carries the tuning and oddly unique song structure similar to past prog-pop legends. Yet, the music is more exciting than Radiohead‘s, and employs some influential textures. Having backwards looping swells, and a Porcupine Tree type of rhythmic superiority, the track hits the perfect middle between the complex extreme and its polar pop opposite. Using the soul and listener as the medium, the band’s emotional power is undeniable.

The band build into tensions that can’t be hushed, and surpassed the bar with intensified mirror images. Sign ON/OFF leaves where the first track left off, in an Incubus and Dredg alternative rock framework. The track quickly heads towards a polyrhythmic and very drum and bass broken construction. The track has the authenticity of math-pop DIY pride with the polished sophistication of records like The Dave Matthews Band‘s Before these Crowded Streets. Half way through the track, it is becoming clear that the Toronto based quartet has just spontaneously combusted into existence. The record has a tone of urgency and demands attention at all times. They bring the 90s along with them, the group mix a bag of tricks, techniques, and clever accentuation to an already thoughtful lyrical and poetic musicianship.

Bass driven funk opens Deep Machines with a clear intent and desire to evoke scenery within the listener’s mind, heart and ears. Being somewhere between a natural habitat and a circuitry based society, the indie push and pull matched against Incubus-like vocals makes the track a radio single must. This is music made by the true few for the sheep in many. So, Still has some great Zach Hill left-handed snare ghost notes on top of offbeat The Stills beats that is elongated into a structure suitable for alternative and distorted tripping picking. The track takes some nostalgic turns into personas of other notable singers of past eras.

Perhaps my favorite track on the full length, Corpse Kid, is a disjunctive and very dysfunctional attempt at pop. Reminiscent of 80's jazz like Allan Holdsworth, the discorded depravity shifts without the listener noticing until a straight forward hard rock piano ballad is birthed, and its mathy egg is cracked as the baby creator heads for the sky and onward. The rest of this album is so tight, I think I should just shut up and let you listen to it. Be sure to check out No Son of Midas the album closer, which in retrospection is my favorite composition, and features some intense Mick Karn and David Torn instrumentation over some mathy shred concepts! - SPREAD Music