CD Reviews

Secret Machines

Ten Silver Drops | Reprise

By MATT ASHARE | May 15, 2006

3.5 Stars

BEST MUSIC POLLSTERS: Secret Machines join Elefant on Lansdowne Street for this year’s Best Music Poll party.

The swirling psychedelia and deep, darkly textured arrangements perfected by Secret Machines give this New-York-by-way-of-Texas band something of a British accent. What’s hard to believe is that they’ve pared back some of the excesses of their well-received, Pink Floydian 2004 debut, Now Here Is Nowhere. Singer/keyboardist/bassist Brandon Curtis seems to have something caught in his throat on “Alone, Jealous and Stoned,” the tone-setting opener, which is flush with lush synths, the throb of bass that’s felt as much as heard, and the architecturally perfect David Gilmour–like guitars of brother Benjamin Curtis as it goes through several transformations on its way past the six-minute mark. There’s something utterly classic about Secret Machines’ brand of rock, especially the rock-hard (but not hard-rock) drumming of Josh Garza, which is muscular but never overly heavy. Lovelorn melancholy, bitter regret, and a sense that all is not well permeates Ten Silver Drops, sometimes pushing Brandon to fits of florid poetics. But if you listen too closely to the words, you’ll miss the real joys here: the gorgeous soundscapes, the driving backbeats, and the textured melodic flow that buoys even the most downcast tracks.

ELEFANT + CHARLATANS UK + BUFFALO TOM + SECRET MACHINES + NADA SURF | May 18 | Lansdowne Street, Boston | 617.228.6000

On the Web
Secret Machines: http://www.thesecretmachines.com/

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Topics: CD Reviews , David Gilmour, SECRET MACHINES

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Secret Machines, "Lightning Blue Eyes" (QuickTime)

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