Artist: Seeming

 

Album Title: Madness & Extinction

 

Label: Artoffact Records

 

Released March 11th 2014

 

Genre:Post-Human / Post-Gothic / Post-Political / Post-Dance

 

From: New York

 

 

 

Brief Biography:

 

Alex Reed is the author of the book Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music and along with Aaron Fuleki who with Alex have both made records and played 100+ shows with the successful dark wave band ThouShaltNot.

 

Now here are two musicians that offer bags of talent between them. Incorporating heart felt lyrics and poignant sounds that although have a 80s feel have put their special twist of the 21^st century on them, which is more than creative.

 

The Eyes of Extinction

 

With a waxing lyrical vocal that is pure as the driven snow that simply melts amid timeless and saturated rhythms this is one track that really stands out for being blessed with a blossoming creativity.

 

New Year

 

A beautifully crafted track and from it you can almost picture the scene set to a theme tune that is just as poignant as the track itself.

 

It’s a new year in an old house

With more technology you’ll never understand

Break out your typewriter with your “these” and “thou’s”

Smearing old words with your old hands

You’ll call me Cassandra; I’ll call you King James

And all we write is true and all of it insane

But the changing of the seasons will forever stay the same, you say

The infantry’s retreating

Like they knew how this would end

Did you hear the Germans lost the war?

I bet they could use a friend

Right now supper’s getting cold

Right now God is growing old

Right now dialect is evolving

Outside this house

Or so I’m told

It’s a real fear for you and me

Burning clothing just to keep the winter warm

My fingers trace the gum line of a skeleton key

Not caring whether it could open up the door

And the faces at the window are children in the womb

Black-eyed and still but growing every day

You’ll die on the outside or die in this room, either way

Our infancy’s receding

We’re a heartbeat from the end

Did you hear the madmen lost the war?

I bet they could use a friend

Right now supper’s getting cold

Right now God is growing old

Right now dialect is evolving

Outside this house

Or so I’m told

We’re stockpiling warheads; we’re stuck in the past

Death is art, truth is beauty, and the first shall be last

You’ll call me Athena; I’ll call you Monet

When the world is falling down, crumbling like clay

We’re hiding in caverns, forgetting our names

We dissolve in our mythology like blood in the rain

You’ll call me the lion; I’ll call you the lamb

I am lost in all you are; you’re alive for what I am

 

Celestial

 

A beautifully carved track with poignant lyrics adding ambient imagination that transports the listener to new realms.

 

Everything could Change

 

This is a formidable dark edged track that winds and twists within sharp keyboard notes and lingering vocals.

 

Goodnight London

 

Again very clever lyrics are contained within a simple track that offers an entrancing edgy imagination.

 

Take a Listen: "Goodnight London"

 

 

Come Back

 

Sown into this track are deep resonating grooves, crisp rhythms and a melody that lingers with haunting effect. Indeed a very beautiful enticement that has a medieval feel.

 

The Shadows

 

Gnarly and stunted synth notes portray a confident stride into what is a very diverse track, even the vocals take on a darker stance with a gothic doom flavour.

 

“Words mean a lot to this band that is pretty evident from its workings. For a debut album it is the pinnacle of what will follow – rich styles, pleasing rhythms and a vocal that is haunting and can weave the poignant lyrics into a tapestry of fine art”

 

The Burial

 

A seductive track that holds plenty of simplistic rhythms and a chorus that catches the attention although the whole track should warrant the attention it deserves.

To the lighthouse that faithfully whispers the fisherman starboard

To the children whose days number more than every flower in Europe

To the nations who charter their florid colonial highways

To the towers erected by contractors named after kings

God will bury you; nature will bury you

To the gunmen who guard against all of the starving

God will bury you; nature will bury you

To the screens and the radios where words turn to weapons

God will bury you; nature will bury you

To the terrified rich man

God will bury you

To the killer of animals

Nature will bury you

To the worship of justice

The reliance on reason

And the fire in your eyes

God will bury you

Nature will bury you

Time will bury your bones unseen

Total and absolute

Infinite amplitude

Till all the black is ripe in green

And I’m not angry, I’m not sad

I’m just stating the fact that

God will bury you

Nature will bury you

 

Beautiful for the last Time

 

Scintillating rhythms pervade the senses in this poignant little track as it caresses and coaxes on its absorbing journey.

 

Convincing

 

Starting with a haunting rhythm and a slow and precise vocal accompaniment it’s overshadowed with a melancholic structure, but the words are forthright and poignant.

 

Welcome to the Sun

 

Intensive and striking beginning that unfolds and a beautifully soft vocal pours out the words...

It’s the start of the season

The dawning is near

The Age of Fish comes

Announcing the news of the year

The tiger returns to her jungle

The wolf comes home to his yard

When you say it feels good to be back

Then it’s just one step further on to the heart

It’s the start of the season

Creep out of the Ark

Leave your sticky asylum behind

And step out of the dark

There’s an open horizon before us

There is a rainbow under my eyes

The detector reads low radiation

And you’re fearless to rise till you’re high

Getting over

It’s the start of the season

Over the land

A mockingbird is singing a song

Near the Tide’s Restaurant

As you undress your movie-blue diving suit

Your innocent skin shines so white

Oh, we shall be one under the sun

Right here in the power of the light

Come to the summer

Welcome to the sun

 

All of this really happened

 

Finishing off this twelve track CD comes an ambient defined drama of darkness. The raw hissing of deep sounds and faint toms peer out of the gloom and awaken with a shrill flurry of keyboard. Its eerie flushes of violin strings and sampled voices come through the ripples of imagination though leaving a bitter taste.

 

 

To Sum up:

 

Here we have a band that is not afraid to clearly think through some ‘out of the box’ lyrics and weave them into something beautiful and absorbing. These rhythms offer great comfort to the listener and are a clear and precise compelling ride.

 

Words mean a lot to this band that is pretty evident in its workings. For a debut album it is the pinnacle of what will follow – rich styles, pleasing rhythms and a vocal that is haunting and can weave the poignant lyrics into a tapestry of fine art.

 

9½/10

 

 

Track List:

 

The Eyes of Extinction

New Year

Celestial

Everything could Change

Goodnight London

Come Back

The Shadows

The Burial

Beautiful for the last Time

Convincing

Welcome to the Sun

All of this really happened

 

Members:

 

Alex Reed - Voice & Keyboards

Aaron Fuleki - Drums & Programming

 

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