Music
Album Review: Clandestine ‘The Invalid’
‘Fearless’ kicks off the album with an intro sounding like old Dream Theater. The first thing I noticed was the very solid sounding production. Everything sounded crisp and solid, although I could hear a few things that failed to stand out for me. The first time June started singing, it sounded off-key until I paid more attention to how the music changed. There are some interesting progressions and changes. In any case, ‘Fearless’ starts the album properly, letting the listener know what is coming.
The production of the album is pretty much spot on. The only thing that I was left craving was some more ‘sizzle’ coming from the cymbals. They seemed to have lost some of the higher frequencies in the production phase. The bass guitar sounds fantastic, especially when it comes to the front and takes the lead. The various keyboard and synth patches are often very interesting and curiously chosen.
The rest of the album plays with genres ranging from prog metal, alternative, jazz, ambient, electronica, and more. The multitude of genres makes it a great album for multiple listens. In the interview with Dan, he comments that some of his influences are Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree. It definitely shows. The last track, ‘Comatose’, ends the album on a strange note, as it is almost happy-poppy sounding, which does not reflect the mood that the rest of the album put forth.
The Final Word: Don’t be turned off by the “progressive” label, Clandestine have put out an incredibly solid first album that deserves to be checked out. I expect to see these guys reaching great heights and soon.
Check out: ‘Phantom Pain’, ‘The Invalid’, ‘Philistine’
It’s a new day, and you’ve got new John Carpenter to listen to. John Carpenter, Daniel Davies and Cody Carpenter have released the new track He Walks By Night this morning, the second single off their upcoming album Lost Themes IV: Noir, out May 3 on Sacred Bones Records.
Lost Themes IV: Noir is the latest installment in a series that sees Carpenter releasing new music for John Carpenter movies that don’t actually exist. The first Lost Themes was released in 2015, followed by Lost Themes II in 2016 and Lost Themes III: Alive After Death in 2021.
Sacred Bones previews, “It’s been a decade since John Carpenter recorded the material that would become Lost Themes, his debut album of non-film music and the opening salvo in one of Hollywood’s great second acts. Those vibrant, synth-driven songs, made in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, kickstarted a musical renaissance for the pioneering composer and director. With Lost Themes IV: Noir, they’ve struck gold again, this time mining the rich history of the film noir genre for inspiration.
“Since the first Lost Themes, John has referred to these compositions as “soundtracks for the movies in your mind.” On the fourth installment in the series, those movies are noirs. Like the film genre they were influenced by, what makes these songs “noirish” is sometimes slippery and hard to define, and not merely reducible to a collection of tropes. The scores for the great American noir pictures were largely orchestral, while the Carpenters and Davies work off a sturdy synth-and-guitar backbone.
“The trio’s free-flowing chemistry means Lost Themes IV: Noir runs like a well-oiled machine—the 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster from Kiss Me Deadly, perhaps, or the 1958 Plymouth Fury from John’s own Christine. It’s a chemistry that’s helped power one of the most productive stretches of John’s creative life, and Noir proves that it’s nowhere near done yielding brilliant results.”
You can pre-save Lost Themes IV: Noir right now! And listen to the new track below…
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