A DAGGER IN EVERY TIDE

A "dream prog" album of songs based on a near-death experience, I'm glad for the "kick in the butt" event that somehow prompted these talented artists to get their act together and produce a full-length album together after some years of floating around in their own other projects.

1. "Like Lazarus" (2:41) a very dreamy opening with layers of swirling synths and a heavily-treated single male vocal using a WIPPY BONSTACK melody line to present his words about perception, dimension, and the feeling of reincarnation. Mushy drums, bass, and synths join in for the second half. It's really like a little intro to what's ahead. Great opener! (9.3333/10)

2. "Cherry Violence" (6:42) nice melodies and pacing as the band seems to have been recorded through a muting sound stage of mashed potatoes. I love the Shoegaze sound, wonderful chord progressions and melodies and female- dominated choral vocals, but it is a bit tight and dense--as if the band is performing while free-floating underwater. There is a guitar solo in the fourth minute that reminds me of something CURE-ish. Then the music beefs up as WEST INDIAN GIRL-like layers of vocals, male and female, enhance the psychedelia, if that was even possible. Weird to have the fast-set oscillating volume control providing the pace and rhythm more than the drums. (9/10)

3. "Over" (6:30) This one brings out the MEW-like sound I'd heard so much about in other reviewers' writings (especially with the CURE-like bass and vocal tracks). The rest is a little too reliant on lyrics, as if the band is not caring to make the music more interesting or dynamic for fear of detracting from the vocalized words. Despite some instrumental theatrics in the second half the song never really climbs into greatness. (8.875/10)

4. "Dreamsong" (5:09) Surprise: a much clearer, cleaner sound )! It's still dreamy, but much more of a standard pop song with clean vocals, female background "aahs," forward low bass note play and distorted guitar and keys. The chorus is killer-gorgeous! I also love the thinned out section in the fourth and fifth minutes with its solo vocal chant from Ellie Richards. A top three song. (9.25/10)

5. "Viscera" (6:30) more abrasive and loose than the previous songs (very much like some of Oceansize's more monotonous songs), the drums by now are really bothering me. The muting and minimalist effect on the instruments and palette in the sixth and seventh minutes are interesting. (8.75/10)

6. "Red & Blue" (7:28) this time it's the bass and guitar that feel too muffled; the vocals and drums are a bit clearer and cleaner--the former despite being presented through multiple voices (not unlike some of PURE REASON REVOLUTION's debut album). The subdued interlude in the fourth minute is interesting: delicate and fragile in the vocals while feeling tense and potent in the gated instrumental performances beneath. The drums and guitars build slowly with a kind of Post Rock form before dropping back at the five-minute mark into open space--which is then filled by a group vocal chant and, eventually, guitars. The motif becomes full-on CURE rock at the six-minute mark as the vocalists switch phrases to repeat over and over to the end of the song. Kind of cool--though it feels, somehow, a bit unfinished. (13.3333/15)

7. "Wayfarer" (4:33) industrial computer-processed sounds are woven into the Buggles-like techno music that gently accompanies singer Ellie Richards' pensive, reflective solo lead vocal performance. Lots of atmospheric droning of guitars and synths shifting and morphing beneath Ellie as the song goes--and creative b vox arrangements layered beneath and around Ellie as the song evolves. (Anybody remember the theme song music to the WB television series Felicity that broadcast from 1998 to 2002? That's what the music of this song reminds me of.) Though not the greatest earworm of a song, the construction here is truly remarkable--even genius! Probably my final top three song. (9/10)

8. "All Endings" (5:29) prominent bass and drums stand out above the murky guitars-and-vocal textures presenting the two slightly-conflicting melody lines. Here I am reminded of some of the Australian Shoegaze-influenced musicians like Kevin Parker/Tame Impala and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard well as early psychedelic rock experimenteurs like Blue Cheer, Kaleidoscope, King Crimson, and Nektar. Chris Anderson's continuous Robert Smith-like guitar soloing throughout the song is quite enjoyable--probably my favorite element of this (along with Taran Ali's Mark Heron-like drum rhythms). Smooth and satisfying despite its intentional murkiness. (9/10)

9. "Slow" (4:54) pure MEW with slow ands steady co-lead vocals from Ellie, Nic and Chris, the music remains hypnotically slow and steady, almost flat, but enjoyable from start to finish. (8.875/10)

Total Time: 49:56

There's something in this British band's sound and spirit that feels like a reincarnation: the reincarnation of one of my favorite bands from the Naughties that, sadly, discorporated in 2011, that is, OCEANSIZE. There's also a strong sense of Kevin Shields/MY BLOODY VALENTINE in the heavily reverbed and effected sound treatments and overall production value and perhaps a strong debt to THE CURE for the song construction style and bass guitar stylings. The engineering choices do, unfortunately, render some of the vocals a bit murky and the "soft" snare drum sound used throughout the album make me think of someone playing through mashed potatoes. After my third run through this album--while trying to give the lyrics a little attention (I'm a sucker for anything numinous--anything suggestive of the possibility of there being anything "more" than this perceptual field we call "reality") I've found myself wondering if the band has created this murky "underwater" sonic field from the intention of trying to reflect or even replicate the foreign, ethereal, and often tough-to-make-sense of textures of the "otherworlds" we are exposed to in dreams, trance and mystical states, and other contextual fields similar to those reported from near-death experiences.

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of intriguing and mood-setting Crossover Prog (or "Dream Prog" as reviewer "Warren" categorized it).