Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Seconds Before Landing, "Now That I Have Your Attention"

Welcome to the dog days of summer fellow progheads!  The mercury has been climbing high in the thermometer and the sounds wafting from the prog garden have been just as hot...this week we venture back to America and visit with a band that has been steadily growing their prog music catalog.

Seconds Before Landing just released their latest album "Now That I Have Your Attention;" album number three for those keeping score at home.  John Crispino is the creative mastermind hard at work behind (and in front of) the curtain and I have enjoyed the sounds emanating from Pittsburgh PA ever since I discovered this band in the prog garden a few years back.  Now time to dig in and find out if the music is as striking as the album art...



The album opens in usual SBL fashion; that is to say you feel as though you are being escorted through a a crack in the time/space continuum...nothing seems to make sense and there is an apprehensive, almost nonsensical unease in the air.  The voice over and audio clips are tied together perfectly with a eerie "Twilight Zone-ish" musical interlude that sucks you in like a riptide.

It may take three or four play-throughs before you realize the intro has bled into the first cut;
"4 A.M." The tension continues as though a serial killer is toying with your emotions...playing with you like a cat swatting a cornered mouse for what seems like an eternity (to the mouse) before finally dining on his prey.  Seconds Before Landing is to the concept album what Penn & Teller are to magic; an alternate view through a different colored lens.

As I travel along the buffet line, the mood swings to and fro yet tends to stay on the darker side of the garden; nothing evil or portentous--but the sun never seems to burn through the haze.  However; "Come Back to Me" is a cut that brings a jazz cafe feel to the music with top notes of Steely Dan wrapping themselves around a smooth scotch, going down nice and easy.  A sax solo that conjures up David Sanborn images on the underside of my eyelids takes this piece home, melding beautifully with keyboards and bass.

Liner Notes...Seconds Before Landing is the creation of the aforementioned John Crispino out of Pittsburgh.  Seconds Before Landing began in 2010 and "Now That I Have Your Attention" is the band's third album.  Joining John in SBL is Eric Maldonado and Steve Schuffert on lead guitars, J.D. Garrison on bass, Rick Witkowski on rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar and mandolin, Jamie Peck on sax, flute, and piano, and Vanessa Campagna and Carrie Jackson performing the female vocals.  Mr. Crispino is known for having an A-List of guest musicians on his albums and this one is no exception...John Palumbo plays ebow guitar on the cut "Moment In Time."

Seconds Before Landing is that band everyone talks about yet no one seems to know the players by name...much like Pink Floyd or Steely Dan  in their heyday.  Because SBL tends to paint with dark colors and bore deep into the crevices of your cranium, it is easy to think of the band as a living entity rather than being comprised of talented humans.  The album is deceivingly smooth; you almost feel as though you are part of the story being told...the imagery is as vivid and striking as a Salvador Dahli painting...



To purchase "Now That I Have Your Attention" as well as the other albums in the Seconds Before Landing catalog, go to their website Seconds Before Landing , the band's Facebook page
Seconds Before Landing FB  and their Bandcamp site  Seconds Before Landing BC.  You will also find Seconds Before Landing music on Amazon and cdbaby and you can follow the band on Twitter @SBLOfficial 

For a new twist and something I find quite intriguing, Seconds Before Landing has started a podcast called  Fly On The Wall Radio, a weekly (or so) production that will showcase all the music from Seconds Before Landing along with other bands and listener requested stuff...don't just sit there, join the party!



One more slice from the album that wanders a meandering path is called "In The Name Of."  Here John chose to open with an (almost) upbeat intro...the sea lapping at the shore as birds sing to the beauty that is a new day.  Of course in true SBL fashion the song wastes no time pulling the proverbial bootlegger's turn and heading into the thick undergrowth that borders the darker section of the prog garden.  Seconds Before Landing uses a lot of colors to cover the canvas, but there is a drop of black added to each pastel first.  A cloud of "silent" tension runs the length of this piece; you feel it in the spoken word vocals that leap towards you as well as the guitar that just hangs like the Sword of Damocles over the entire album.  Top notes of early Pink Floyd and Genesis mingle with latter day Marillion and Scarlet INside to create a mood that, while hard to define, is most assuredly deep and brooding.

The clip below, "You're Giving Me A Headache," should give you a better dose of what to expect from SBL.  An homage of sorts to the nonsensical, cynical, over-the-top vitriol and head-pounding insanity that has wrapped itself around the planet like a baked on truck bed liner...no one seems to know where it came from or why it's here, yet there seems to be no cure.  The guitar punches you right behind the eye as the drums come up from below, carrying the piano across the top like a warning flare.  Seconds Before Landing took all the craziness that is the new normal, stuffed it into a musical molotov cocktail, and hurled into the middle of the street.  The ensuing chaos makes you step back and realize we are the cause of our own demise...very insightful.  Listen a few times; dissect the entire piece...



Well fellow progheads, that brings another fortnight to a close.  Seconds Before Landing found a section of the prog garden that needs little light or water and was able to bring forth a bountiful--albeit dark and foreboding--harvest.  This is a band that, like a good single malt, is an acquired taste...and once acquired you are loathe to relinquish it.

John Crispino has created a band that takes prog to a different level. By incorporating the state of the world around him into his music he has made himself--and his band--an eyewitness to the carnage. Refreshing for me is the objective viewpoint he seems to take...the "I didn't light this dumpster fire but since you asked" approach is difficult to pull off.  People tend to want a narrative and to be told how to think; Seconds Before Landing puts the onus on you the listener...

So the Closet Concert Arena leaves you in deep thought as the search for all things prog continues...until next week...

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