The second “songs” instalment of Mr Minister’s chanelling his Great Aunt Coleslaw’s muse into an expected 26 albums spread over the year – that’s an infeasible one a fortnight for anyone slightly math-headed – arrives with all the fanfare of a mouse on a ten-lane expressway. However, once one has decided to take this trip, for no better reason than to see where it might take one, there follows an obligation to get submerged in its writhing ocean of many-tentacled creatures.
These vary from vaudevillian microtonal classical piano pieces via some marvellous psychedelic Americana on Must Have Walked Into a Dream, and deeper down to peer nervously into Pandora’s Box, where one finds oneself staring straight into the unfocussed eyes of a lysergically enhanced Les Dawson while he plays all the wrong notes in all the right places.
This mini excursion into Auntie’s microtonal drawers ends with an off-kilter Beatles-esque universe that begins where A Day In The Life fades into nothingness, and a place where Auntie, whom we are told lives in all times at the same time, tells us “hold on to your dreams, hold on while philosophy has died”.
I often find that the great dollops of coleslaw one tends to find accompanying café and pub lunches these days are always too much, and I can never eat it all. Having agreed to share this industrial-sized portion with Jez at TPA Towers, we’ll see how long I last.
TRACK LISTING
01. Tea tree Shuffle (2:53)
02. Must Have Walked Into A Dream (4:33)
03. Sixteen Mice Skimmering Sideways(1:18)
04. The Beauty Of Words (4:34)
05. Pandora’s Box (2:54)
06. Philosophy Has Died (4:49)
Total Time – 21:01
MUSICIANS
Elk Minister- Vocals, Steinway Piano, Electric Bass, Upright Bass, Electric Guitar, Microtonal Organ, Keyboards, Egg Shaker, Tambourine, Synthesizer, Violin, Viola, Oscillator, Theremin, Wooden Frog, Pan Flute, Koto, Dulcimer, Zither, Tape and Digital Manipulations, GeoShred App, ANS Synthesizer, The MayaBoard
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Independent
Country of Origin: U.S.A.
Date of Release: 10th February 2018