“With music strong I come. With my cornets and my drums. I play not
marches for accepted victors only. I play marches for conquer’d and slain
persons.” -Walt Whitman
This quote in the liner
notes of “Swan River Yogue” sets the tone for the whole album. At once melancholy and euphoric, 555 has
brought us a delightfully immersive headphone masterpiece. Based on a
performance given at Swan River Yoga in New Orleans (I can’t imagine a more apt
setting for this music), the album is an ethereal journey. I spent a week with this in my walkman- at
work, commuting, meditating, and it has become a personal favorite.
Starting with lush pads,
rich echos and rumbling bass on the opening track “Twin Verses,” and segueing
into reverse harps, subtle glitches and ethereal, swooping harmonies on “Heedfulness,”
the album quickly hooks you. “Flowers”
alters the mood, with circling hornlike sounds that reminded me of temple horns
in a Himalayan monestary, getting a bit darker and more intense before lifting
you back up. The fourth track, “Furls,”
brings back energy with a clicking buzzy rhythmic pulse, before tapering off
Side A with “The Wyze,” a longer droning track with circling flutes and
overlapping harmonies.
Side B picks up just as
strong with the first track “Evil.” It’s
high delayed eighth notes, warp core reactor thrumming in the low register and
steady pace set you up for what I consider to be the best track on the
album. “Old Age” is my favorite track on
here, it begins with light pads that make you feel like you’re descending
through a cloud, low didgeridoo like drones and magical flute melodies settle
on you like cool mist. The penultimate
track “Self” starts to settle you down, bring you home from the journey, it’s
bubbling melody is like your inner voice speaking to you. And this all leads us to “World,” the final
track whose stuttering arpeggios and funky bassline resolve into a final rising
unison of voices that clearly and satisfyingly end the album.
Another thing I really
enjoyed was that the artist included a list of the equipment used on the album
in the liner notes. As a gear junkie it
really pleased me to know what all was used by the artist in the creation of
the album. I highly recommend this album
and look forward to more output from 555.
--Jeremiah Paddock