Secret Machines - Secret Machines : Road Leads Where It's Led EP - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Secret Machines blend songcraft and melody with their acclaimed power to sculpt epic, dreamy, neo-psychedelic soundscapes on their second full-length album, TEN SILVER DROPS. While still paying homage to experimentalist pop groups with effects laden, heavily processed guitars and primal, stomping drums, Secret Machines expand their universe to reveal both the icy peaks and murky depths of their music. Features the track InchLightning Blue Eyes.Inch

Much like a frantic movie about Inchunfinished businessInch or Inchthe one that got away,Inch Secret Machines spent the past few years putting the finishing touches on what should have been their fourth LP. Long regarded as a lost album, The Moth, The Lizard and the Secret Machines was put on pause in 2010 and massaged in the aftermath of 2020's return-to-form record Awake in the Brain Chamber. Full of winding ear worms and hummable hooks, from it's fearless, thunderstruck opener (InchThere's No Starting OverInch) and the Fripp & Eno-esque outro of InchCrucifixion TimeInch and the somber instrumental sequence that is InchLast One Out.Inch InchThis album is really special to us because it represents a band playing music with no other agenda than to connect with one other,Inch says Garza. InchMy main hope is that people will hear it and say, 'These guys went somewhere weird, man.' I feel like we finally delivered the crazy album everybody knew we had in us.Inch

Kamyar Mohajer's Pictures of the Hidden honors the composer's Inchfour Grand Masters Inch Johann Sebastian Bach, Persian poet Hafez, and his parents. In this album, Mohajer shares his artistic upbringing by combining his roots in Persian modality with his love of Western classical music. The eponymous piece, a set of five songs for voice and piano, feature the works of the Persian poet Hafez. In the multi-tiered composition, Mohajer draws from childhood memories of his mother's singing. Used with Hafez's poetry, which adores a superior spirit called InchBeloved,Inch Pictures of the Hidden reaches towards a higher meaning, honoring the perfection of an all-powerful Spirit. Each song, sung in Persian by soprano Raeeka Shehabi-Yaghma, brings a motherly passion to the depth of Hafez's poetry. With Karolina Rojahn on piano, the composer combines the story-like motifs and counterpoint of Bach-inspired piano composition with the brilliant virtuosity of Shehabi-Yaghma. In Reng, Mohajer shares the conventions of his native music. The dance, for instance, is built on a syncopated 6/8 rhythm characteristic of Persian dances throughout history. The dance signals a , a giving up of self to the joy of music and movement. The album concludes with a stunning performance by the acclaimed Alexander String Quartet, who communicate the contrasting feelings of melancholic longing and swift energy - a task perfect for strings and their ability to produce sound across the dynamic spectrum. Though the album is Mohajer's debut, Pictures of the Hidden is more than just an artistic expression of self. Rather, the album celebrates the past figures who shaped his present context, and demonstrates how art can leave humanity in a better place for having experienced it.