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Just by starting with the tongue-twisting title, "Infinite Ellipse And Head With Open Fontanel", you know that you're in for a bit of a trip with the second album by Philadelphia collective Make a Rising.
Not that you'll find the album title anywhere on the CD. The spine gives us the band name and the back gives the label name and address, but not even the fold out insert gives a hint to the piece's title. Nor are we told who Make a Rising are. There's an impressive list of guest musicians given kudos and notes on production, but who Make a Rising are remains undefined.
Being undefined may be the unspoken goal of these musicians. Just listening to the first track ("Sneffels Yokul") and you know that you can throw handy music genre summations out the window. This CD does not come with a little sticker that instructs to "File Under: Rock" or "File Under: Pop". Perhaps it should come with a warning: "File Under: Your Skull" because bits and shards of these songs will burrow their way into your brain.
So what do you get when you put on this collection? A few things are obvious Make a Rising like pretty things and Make a Rising hate boundaries. BUT their definition of "pretty" is in a constant state of fluctuation and they don't break boundaries like a bullet bursting through a lung. They'd rather seduce the boundary until it submits willingly. There are a couple of actual, focused songs found on "Infinite Elipse..." ("Your Karmic Obtacle" and the Beattles/Kinks influenced "How's About a Love Supreme") but most of the songs sound like assemblages of miniature movements. Strange, (at first) disparate elements blossom in each song turning them into pocket-sized opuses. Each of these compositions manages to be buoyant, life-affirming.
This upbeat-ness keeps the overall mood more psychedelic than prog. This album is too weird and light-hearted to be pretentious. And that's saying a lot for a recording that frequently sounds like the Velvet Underground jamming with Brian Wilson and Sun Ra. The most remarkable thing about this CD is that it doesn't sound dated, that it doesn't come off as just a lost '60s nugget. The mixture of clever pop and shambling experimental post-rock clearly shows a band that is as familiar with The Magnetic Fields as they are with God Speed You Black Emperor.
This may be an obstacle for many listeners. It may have too many pop hooks appearing out of the blue for some listeners and be too "out there" for others. I really enjoy the songs, each one takes you on a little journey, on a voyage where you can't predict the end. I love and respect that.
Taken as a whole Infinite Ellipse And Head With Open Fontanel" isn't just upbeat, it's *celebratory*. It's gives the impression of being the soundtrack for an art-damaged religious service. Even the name "Make a Rising" implies a magical event, like "drawing down the moon" or "focusing the will". The photos that adorn the album are further evidence: strange costumes, totemic items, the secluded sylvan location, the bearded Moses-like figure... all of this points to a obfuscated capital-H Happing.
A bit of mystery is good, but we're not given enough clues to figure out the mystery, much less join the mystery cult. Each song is inviting but the whole collection puts distance between the artist and listener. What is going on here? Are we an active part in the creation merely by listening? Are we just meant to observe? And how could we do either with out being given instructions or indications? Good ritual music draws you in, but Make a Rising makes me feel like the outsider, like going to a opera with-out a libretto: the music is wonderful but being lost just makes me uncomfortable.
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Make a Rising:
http://www.myspace.com/makearising
High Two:
http://hightwo.com/htwo/
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