SELF SIMILAR

Portland's gift to Avant Prog releases their seventh studio album and first in four years! And good news: The microtonal, polyrhythmic pioneering continues! And just look at that lineup of guests (as if the amazing core power trio alone weren't enough)!

1. "Grown Apart" (5:25) man these guys work with microtones, tonal shifts, and note-bending has come so far! The "odd" musical nuances are no longer so abrasive or cloying as they've mastered the art of making it all flow "beautifully." (9.25/10)

2. "Similar Self" (5:43) this one opens like it came out of the techno-pop scene around 1984. Ben Spees' vocals are heavily-treated as many of the vocalists in the mid-80s were, but even the supporting instruments seem to have a quirky 80s vibe to them--like The Cure or Talking Heads. But then, at 2:06, the music becomes more like The Smiths meet The Clash cum The Specials. A lot of the woven riffs remind me of black midi as well, but the vocals continue to trumpet out like early BONO. Cool! (9/10)

3. "Dreamwalking" (4:16) brilliant smooth singing over quite syncopated and polyrhythmic (even African sounding) music. I like the introduction of the Who-like keys in the third verse followed by Ben's dreamy (and then raunchy) singing. (9.25/10)

4. "Recursed Images" (6:22) psychedelic echo-vocals with straighforward time signatures within which microtonal and "old standard" guitar play trade off in extended instrumental passages. But then that crazy fourth minute comes with building tension over an ominously unstable Crimsonian rhythm track. Another totally brilliant and refreshing sound scape that seems to somehow draw from the past masters of the 1960s like The Beatles and (9/10)

5. "Stay the Corpse" (5:34) another song whose basic rhythm track and instrument palette immediately brings up the late 1970s and early 1980s--a more aggressive (Alice Cooperized) version of The Cure or perhaps The Clash. Very steady driving music. (8.75/10)

6. "Binary" (3:46) the song with Nick Prol's help on the vocals proves to be a likable and interesting one but, in the end, presenting nothing really new or astonishing other than the amazing-as-usual rhythm section. (Drummer Connor Reilly is so versatile!) (8.875/10)

7. "Self Similar" (4:57) opening with a great sound palette--deep in the bass and odd-timed in the drums--Ben Spees' vocals add a calming beauty in the way that Mark Vennart with British prog band OCEANSIZE used to. (The contributions of Gabriel Riccio, Tom Shad, and Deja Indigo Yerger are noticeable and appreciated. I really like the microtonal guitar "piano" adding quick arpeggi in various parts of the song as well as the great drumming. (9/10)

8. "Dark Triad" (9:26) opening with an instrumental palette that sounds very Southeast Asian playing some oddly-timed weave of non-Western scaled instrumental play, Ben enters with his smooth, almost plaintive voice that doesn't really fit until the third minute when he matches the melodic line of Damon Waitkus' tongue drum. Mathematically, this is a very cool construct; however, with my very-biased American-trained nervous system, I find these unusual and non-Western melodies and harmonies at times quite challenging to accommodate much less enjoy. Still, from a King Crimson point of experience I am very appreciative of what I hear here. The "Run Like Hell" prog-almost-disco motif that starts at 6:20 helps me to reset and get in the Asian groove that follows--until the more familiar Western metal power chord progressions a minute later. Did I mention how awesome Oliver Campbell's deep bass play throughout is? Such a power trio! (Nice high note at the 9-minute mark, Ben!) (or is it Oliver?) (18/20)

9. "After the Incident" (7:30) So strange to be hearing these odd (non-Western) chords and chordal progressions worked into more traditional metal and progressive rock musical forms. It's rather amazing how well the band can do this: making it interesting while still making it enjoyable as well. (Great vocal melodies, Ben! Not an easy job to do!) My favorite song on the album. (14.5/15)

Total Time:

The delicate, almost "beautiful" voice of lead singer Ben Spees is sometimes at odds with the intricate and sometimes raw-feeling musical forms he is trying to sing with and within, so it always takes me a few listens of a Mercury Tree album in order to get used to the whole. Evenso, this album has hit me at the perfect time: it's as if something was missing in me and this helps to fill the void.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of truly progressive rock music. Highly recommended to any and all progheads who think that they are still open to the "progressive" part of prog music.