MECHANISMS (PART 2)

UK band CRANIUM PIE have been active for a good handful of years by now, and have a handful of single releases and a number of project participations to their name so far, as well as their debut album "Mechanisms (Part I)" from 2011 and a second full length album called "The Geometry of Thistles" that was released the following year. "Mechanisms Part Two" is their third full length studio production, and will be released as a double LP by vinyl enthusiast label Fruits de Mer Records in March 2015.

There are quite a few details I really don't know about this production, as I have a promo copy on CD rather than the official vinyl release at my disposition. Will the vinyl album consist of unnamed album sides only for instance, or do these songs have a name? Are there one or more songs here, or are we dealing with suites divided into multiple parts? The manner in which these musical excursions play out makes it rather difficult to establish an answer by merely listening. At the end of the day these details aren't all that important though, especially not for a production of this kind, as the music here is rather far removed from anything one might describe as conventional.

The one recurring detail that is a distinct presence throughout the close to 80 minutes of music at hand here is that we're dealing with a band whose affection for the vintage sounds of the late 60's and early 70's is profound. The instruments used are all time typical of that period, or played in a manner that makes them sound like it. The mix and production is warm and analogue sounding, with a slight tendency to a closed in sound I'll always associate with music made in the era where the slogan of the day was Make Love, Not War. And as far as the music is concerned, I guess that tripping is an easy description of what's going on here.

All the album sides here consists of material that sounds like an improvisational jam has had a frantic and elongated intercourse with a studio wizard. Themes come and go, suddenly shifting from one to the other, subsiding into almost silence before a new one arises, and with all manner of effects applied to one or the other as well as for transitional sequences in between. Mellotron, organ and electric piano are all given plenty of room to weave their textures, vintage keyboards are applied and lots of more or less subtle drones, effects, cosmic vibes and extensive amounts of sampled voice effects, spoken word dialogues and what sounds like effects treated varieties of all these elements dominate this album through and through. The band may stop up for a bit to take a run through a classic blues rock oriented sequence, plenty of organ driven escapades come and go too, and a liberal amount of Mellotron driven passages appears as well. Generally speaking these tend to be short and concise experiences however, relatively brief excursions into landscapes of conventional melodies and arrangements, even sporting regular lead vocals at times, in between myriads of parts and passages with more of an experimental character. Experimental in this case should be read as psychedelic, subtly freaked out and more often than not with a cosmic vibe.

This is a case of tripping the light fantastic in a vintage space ship, the soundscape to a cosmic journey planned more than 40 years ago and rediscovered today. It's a sonic experience, a journey through moods and atmospheres that focus and hone in on the moods and atmospheres first and foremost, teasing us with conventional snippets and pieces of familiar and mostly harmonic sounds amidst their more dramatic, theatrical and chaotic escapades. It's all about the experience from what I can comprehend here, where the journey rather than the goal is the important aspect of what's ongoing.

The question I guess many will have is if this album is any good. The answer to that one depends very much on what you desire to get from an album of music. If you fancy an album to contain compositions that at some level opens at a place, establish a route of some kind or other and reach a final goal, or if you are fond of themes, motifs and arrangements of a more conventional, harmony based nature then this production is one you should inspect prior to purchasing I guess. But if vintage psychedelic and cosmic rock from around 1970 is something you fancy, you are fond of improvisational escapades and music of an unconventional overall nature, then chances are that you'll be intrigued by this double vinyl album. Especially if you regard words like freaked out and Krautrock in a highly positive manner.