THE MYTH OF DYING

I dunno, guys, I really don't know. When the mystery of precisely who is behind The Psychedelic Ensemble is more interesting than their actual music you know there's got to be something wrong. With reasonable but not exceptional production values and a vague concept about dying (as though we don't already have enough concept albums about wild near-death experiences or post-mortem journeys), The Myth of Dying presents a sound rooted in rather pretty and accessible space rock reminiscent of what would happen if post-Roger Waters Pink Floyd got into a collaboration with Mercury Rev.

The problem I have with it is that I can't really get a handle on the atmosphere it's going for - if, indeed, it's going for one at all. It's too laid back to go for a bombastic Floydian rock out, but too busy to be a relaxing New Age soundscape trip, and flirts just enough with both of those styles that I keep expecting it to definitively plump for one or the other but it never does. I just don't get the appeal here.