Roots Of Confusion Seeds Of Joy

Description

Roots of Confusion Seeds of Joy is here, and it’s about time, too! Practitioners of an increasingly rare form of musical alchemy, Major Stars stand as the antidote to all sorts of real world inflicted traumas. To hear one of their records is to be hurled into a rock ‘n’ roll world of abstraction, diffraction and, ultimately, sweet distraction. So, where do these “Roots of Confusion,” these “Seeds of Joy” come from? How, after over 20 years making records do you come back to “roots” and “seeds”? Who knows! It may be connected to Motion Set, Major Stars previous record, which is only two years old; previous inter-album gestations were a more formidable 3 or 4 years in length. Add a soon to be released Wayne Rogers solo album to the mix and it’s pretty clear that in the Major Stars camp, the creative current is in a hyper-active phase right now, with irrepressible momentum! In times like these it is easy to feel connected to one’s sources – and you will feel it too from the very first listen… Their use of three guitars affects the depth of field in devilish ways, and while it is easy to describe what Major Stars do in terms of grandiloquence, it understates the tactile elements of the band. But what can we do? The aggressive aspects of this music, which nonetheless transport us, have a tendency to grab listeners by the scruff of the neck and shake them about a bit. If perceptions of sonic architecture are lost in the fray, well, that’s kinda the point. New vocalist Noell Dorsey, a veteran of numerous other projects, brings an exhilarating new sonic element to the mix, including several passages of harmonic vocals! Simply put, the eternal psychic effulgence that Major Stars are known for abounds in refined theatricality on Roots of Confusion Seeds of Joy. Seth Manchester provided completely modern engineering at Machines with Magnets in Pawtucket, RI, using a number of analog devices to grasp the particulars of each of the songs, then seamlessly utilized digital faculties to mix. All of this, plus a lovely Robert Beatty drawing on a Stoughton tip-on jacket, makes this album a liberating encounter that is nothing short of a real need these days.