The long-running project of cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy fame and Edward Ka-Spel of the Legendary Pink Dots continues to hold its seemingly timeless appeal as the kind of dark psychedelic music unfolds with an electronic pulse. The second song has more of a Skinny Puppy-like groove, as Ka-Spel's surreal musing sounds great at 71. Not far removed from what Psychic TV used to do that it feels like drug music with little of the hippie trappings. Lyrically, the abstraction proves interesting.
Things percolate further with 'Lady Fate." It does some darkly atmospheric sing-song pondering that floats away with you. "Square Root" engages in some odd theatrics before stirring to mechanical life. The electronic groove is the focus of "It Just Ain't So". It throbs with a hypnotic drone, with the vocals providing enough of a narrative to make it a song. Things ebb down to a darker introspection for "In the Name of", then the album begins to drift off into a more ambient pulse until " War Crier" finds its spectral groove.
Things take a weird experimental turn on "Swallow the Leader," moving into a surreal interlude called "Ureal" about AI, before coming back into focus for " A Developing World," when it's declared that we don't always have the power. Even in the drugged-out bliss of this album's vibe, there is still an awareness of the current dystopia. This leads to darker speculation on "Always Take the Highway". "Chow Mein" is another atmospheric exploration into a trippy deconstruction of social narratives. The album closes with more atmosphere, but even when taking these excursions, it takes us back to the encompassing trips albums used to weave and immerse the listener in that died in the late 90s. I will give this album a 9.5, for crafting the balance of experimental sounds and stories to tell through songs.
6
pst495
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