This is a 77 minute “epic concept album of psychedelic progressive rock and metal”. The story is of a girl in a quest for survival in the drug-ridden areas of London’s East End. The lady who wrote it, Christina Poupoutsi, the band’s vocalist, wrote it as a stage play 20 years ago and has spent the last three years with the newly formed band putting it to music.
We’re straight into the zone from the off. Symphonic to begin, “Auditorium” takes us into the hallucinatory and sub-conscious mind of the main character. Although there are deceptive injections of reality, we never leave this area over the course of the album. It is deeply disturbing. “Acid Man” has the superficial appearance of being more normal but wavers off course. This is intriguing. Breathlessness, coughing, splashing water - “where am I? I must be dreaming” – yes, this is nightmarish. Dreamy, hippy-trippy, but nicely sung and well co-ordinated in its accompaniment – this is “Gateway”. The arrangements are smooth and soothing but we’re never far from lapsing into a psychedelic abyss with the disconnecting and uncomfortable sounds of what my friend Jakob would refer to as a “mindfuck”. Doom Metal momentarily enters the deep and cloud framework. It is no surprise to read that one the members plays in a band called the Magic Mushroom Band. The others are from Ebonillumini and The Meads of Asphodel. Those background murmurings reappear and continue to play on the mind. It’s strange like something from 1970 but at least I’m on dry land. No-one in the band seems to be. It’s deep, dark and at times ponderous, but always engaging. The singer’s floaty and distant voice adds to the disturbing lack of clarity. There are pictures on the cd sleeve of a man smoking alone by a field of bright red mushrooms, and a lady on a white horse in a field. That is the world of this album.
The lady’s head continues to spin as we delve into the innermost recesses of her mind. She addresses “The Receiver”. She receives the code but the picture is no clearer in this muddy, industrial world of numbers. No Hawkwind interlude is more atmospheric. A bright indie track follows but the uncertainty and fear remain. A key is the symbol: “I want it. Can I have it. Why not?” The said key is stolen from our powerless anti-heroine. It’s “The Children” who take it. The nightmare goes on. By “Memory Slides” the singer has lost such plot as there was, fronting a 70s style Psychadelic Prog rock extravaganza, telling us about sticky apples and music and treat. With some difficulty she tries to convince herself that “I hold the key, that’s what’s inside of me”. The shadowy music and vocal styles suggest that we should not be convinced. Stylistically, her voice is like that of Chrissie Hynde but with more soul. “Reality” is a very strange version of the concept. We hear some people having normal conversations. It sounds like a London pub. Breaking into the nightmare, our lady is asked if she has the key yet. The steady beat of “City Life” masks the sense of being trapped. The singer has a very soulful voice with the plaintiveness of Frankie’s Holly Johnson. It leaves us in no doubt of her torment. My picture was of a city late at night, bathed in light, with overpowering tall buildings and no-one around, generating a feeling of loneliness. In spite of all the mental disturbance associated with it, this is a very beautiful track. The drum taps like a heartbeat and lingers for a while. We return to the Dr Who style post apocalyptic cyber world. I was half expecting to hear Blut aus Nord but this is about human rather than industrial torment. The helpless cries can be heard in the background. “Tidal Wave” is more uplifting and seems to offer a ray of hope but the line “you must follow me deeper into the darkness” suggests this may be false. The acoustic work is great and the background music, sophisticated and talented as it is, is unobtrusive and understated. The floating and melancholic “Fantasia” follows. Surprisingly late in the piece, the sounds of the East (India, not London) enter the stage on the calming “I Saw the River”. At last there is warmth, accentuated by those Eastern sounds and the singer’s reassuring tones. Fairground frolics follow but it sounds like it’s all going wrong in both sound and what’s on offer for the children and others: “we feature the most hideous creatures”. That’s “The SteppingStoneAge”. Next are the deep electronic tones of “The Star Garden”, a track promising immense foreboding: “my journey is over, it’s time to make the final choice”. A rampant start precedes a reflective, Gothic and orchestral self-search. The rampant and bouncy riff returns. A progressive riff intervenes as the singer soulfully looks upwards and tries to find her inspiration and freedom. The track takes on a classical quality before becoming a piece of dark and heavy rock. The mixed musical bag is really no surprise, in fact it’s what we’ve come to expect. The track ends on a high note, albeit a suppressed one. This only leaves “Curtain Call” where a sublime rock solo mixes with the deep electronic soundwaves. The impression is not of chaos but of calm. And so ends this ambient horror show of contrasts and disconcerting images.
“The Quest into the SteppingStoneAge” is an epic and disturbing journey. It’s also unusual and evocative and undoubtedly weird. It may or may not reflect where you are sitting – hopefully not – but it’s certainly an album to indulge in. The Higher Craft’s plan for a psychedelic re-evolution has begun.
http://www.thehighercraft.com
Andrew Doherty
MTUK HOME
