GLEN PHILLIPS
Secrets of the New Explorers
Umami Music
If you only know Glen Phillips from his days with Toad the Wet Sprocket, you’ve missed some big changes. Secrets of the New Explorers has been called a “folk-pop meets psychedelia” release, but comparisons to electronica and a rave dance hall would be more in order. The music reminded me of Snow Patrol in that the melodies don’t jump at you so much as they ooze out of an aural soup. The cover art evokes 1950s outer space film posters, but the music—though ethereal—is more post-NASA than the age of Sputnik. “Solar Flare” is catchy, yet dreamy—as if was recorded in a zero-gravity chamber. It’s also the perfect arrangement for its subject matter: an intergalactic explorer adrift in the unknown. On “The Spirit of Shackleton” Phillips compares space voyage to Antarctic exploration. In a clever bit of arranging he intertwines electronic blips and beeps with drum loops and beats evocative of earth-bound discos. The CD is just six tracks, but it’s enough to carry its beyond-the-atmosphere musical and lyrical themes.
Warning: If you buy this online get it from the artist Website . There are online pirates trying to pass this off as a rare release. It ought to cost you around eight bucks, not thirty-five or more!
Secrets of the New Explorers
Umami Music
If you only know Glen Phillips from his days with Toad the Wet Sprocket, you’ve missed some big changes. Secrets of the New Explorers has been called a “folk-pop meets psychedelia” release, but comparisons to electronica and a rave dance hall would be more in order. The music reminded me of Snow Patrol in that the melodies don’t jump at you so much as they ooze out of an aural soup. The cover art evokes 1950s outer space film posters, but the music—though ethereal—is more post-NASA than the age of Sputnik. “Solar Flare” is catchy, yet dreamy—as if was recorded in a zero-gravity chamber. It’s also the perfect arrangement for its subject matter: an intergalactic explorer adrift in the unknown. On “The Spirit of Shackleton” Phillips compares space voyage to Antarctic exploration. In a clever bit of arranging he intertwines electronic blips and beeps with drum loops and beats evocative of earth-bound discos. The CD is just six tracks, but it’s enough to carry its beyond-the-atmosphere musical and lyrical themes.
Warning: If you buy this online get it from the artist Website . There are online pirates trying to pass this off as a rare release. It ought to cost you around eight bucks, not thirty-five or more!
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