The Physics House Band — Death Sequence EP (May 3, 2019)
✹ Brighton trio beloved of comedian Stewart Lee whose dazzling instrumental work will appeal to ancient prog fans and young math rockers.
Location: Brighton, UK
Album release: May 3, 2019
Record Label: Unearthly Vision
Duration: 16:28
Tracks:
1. Death Sequence i 5:14
2. Death Sequence ii 3:35
3. Death Sequence iii (feat. Stewart Lee) 5:55
4. ??? 1:44
Credits:
• Samuel Organ — Guitar / Synthesizers
• Adam Hutchison — Bass / Synthesizers
• Miles Spilsbury — Saxophone / Synthesizers
• Dave Morgan — Drums
• Additional Vocals by Stewart Lee
• Recorded, Mixed & Produced by Mark Roberts
• Recorded at Retreat Studios, Brighton
• Additional Recording by Joel Magill at Wicker Studios, London
• Additional Recording by Joe Caple at Small Pond, Brighton
• Mastered by Tim Rowkins
• Art direction by Jack Hardwicke
• Additional design by Dexter Walker
• Unearthly Vision is a label run by The Physics House Band.
• We would like to thank our distribution partners Republic Of Music.
Paul Lester (excerpt):
✹ The Physics House Band, who met at university, have released one EP, Horizons/Rapture, and are about to release another, Mercury Fountain. Recorded with Joel Magill and Raven Bush (Kate Bush’s nephew, of Syd Arthur marginal “fame”) at Wicker Studios, Kent, Mercury Fountain features synths and guitars, flutes and sax, vintage mics and Moogs, fashioning a sound that nods to ancient prog while being very much rooted in the here and now. It is more coherent than its predecessor, and works as a piece, even as it goes to extremes.
✹ “I was really influenced by The Incal, a graphic novel by the [film director] Alejandro Jodorowsky and French illustrator Jean Giraud [AKA Moebius],” Hutchinson explains. “The record is like a journey through the mind~space and astral plane using the analogy of diving into the Mercury Fountain — that’s the name of a sculpture that I randomly came across in Madrid. I was immediately taken by the way it looked like an alien insect spaceship looking over a pool of reflective mercury. It was a beautiful image and the record developed from there; the idea of going on this insane hallucinogenic journey through fury, violence, madness and bliss.”
Review
Marc Masters
• The new EP by British quartet The Physics House Band lasts less than 17 minutes, but it feels like an eternity — or at the very least, like listening to a bunch of albums at once. Consider the first five minutes of opening track “Death Sequence i.” The band shift from rising prog rock to cinematic guitar meditation, and then from mathed~out metal riffage to nearly symphonic bombast. They pull off these pivots with the muscular prowess and skillful precision of lab~tested scientists. To say they make every second count is an understatement.
• But the key to the Death Sequence’s success isn’t a matter of instrumental or compositional chops, or even succinctness. Rather, the Physics House Band manage to cram it all into songs that actually flow. Even their biggest stylistic jumps feel like logical steps in an ascendant journey, particularly on standouts like “Death Sequence iii”: a dreamscape of starry keyboards meshing around the wry spoken word of comedian/writer Stewart Lee, who has described the group as “a Yes or a Rush, but stripped of any errors of taste and judgment.”
• Such telekinetic gelling doesn’t mean Physics House Band are afraid to be abrupt, mind you. The EP’s final track, “???,” ends with a hard cut after less than two minutes of grinding, like the cops showed up to the studio and suddenly pulled the plug. And yet, despite these dizzying turns and surprising musical tricks, Death Sequence never loses its footing. It’s a testament to just how well these four minds sync.
Studio Albums:
✹ Horizons / Rapture (2013, Blood & Biscuits Records)
✹ Mercury Fountain (2017, Small Pond Recordings)
✹ Death Sequence (May 2019, Unearthly Vision)
Website: http://thephysicshouseband.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thephysicshb
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thephysicshouseband/
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Location: Brighton, UK
Album release: May 3, 2019
Record Label: Unearthly Vision
Duration: 16:28
Tracks:
1. Death Sequence i 5:14
2. Death Sequence ii 3:35
3. Death Sequence iii (feat. Stewart Lee) 5:55
4. ??? 1:44
Credits:
• Samuel Organ — Guitar / Synthesizers
• Adam Hutchison — Bass / Synthesizers
• Miles Spilsbury — Saxophone / Synthesizers
• Dave Morgan — Drums
• Additional Vocals by Stewart Lee
• Recorded, Mixed & Produced by Mark Roberts
• Recorded at Retreat Studios, Brighton
• Additional Recording by Joel Magill at Wicker Studios, London
• Additional Recording by Joe Caple at Small Pond, Brighton
• Mastered by Tim Rowkins
• Art direction by Jack Hardwicke
• Additional design by Dexter Walker
• Unearthly Vision is a label run by The Physics House Band.
• We would like to thank our distribution partners Republic Of Music.
Paul Lester (excerpt):
✹ The Physics House Band, who met at university, have released one EP, Horizons/Rapture, and are about to release another, Mercury Fountain. Recorded with Joel Magill and Raven Bush (Kate Bush’s nephew, of Syd Arthur marginal “fame”) at Wicker Studios, Kent, Mercury Fountain features synths and guitars, flutes and sax, vintage mics and Moogs, fashioning a sound that nods to ancient prog while being very much rooted in the here and now. It is more coherent than its predecessor, and works as a piece, even as it goes to extremes.
✹ “I was really influenced by The Incal, a graphic novel by the [film director] Alejandro Jodorowsky and French illustrator Jean Giraud [AKA Moebius],” Hutchinson explains. “The record is like a journey through the mind~space and astral plane using the analogy of diving into the Mercury Fountain — that’s the name of a sculpture that I randomly came across in Madrid. I was immediately taken by the way it looked like an alien insect spaceship looking over a pool of reflective mercury. It was a beautiful image and the record developed from there; the idea of going on this insane hallucinogenic journey through fury, violence, madness and bliss.”
Review
Marc Masters
• The new EP by British quartet The Physics House Band lasts less than 17 minutes, but it feels like an eternity — or at the very least, like listening to a bunch of albums at once. Consider the first five minutes of opening track “Death Sequence i.” The band shift from rising prog rock to cinematic guitar meditation, and then from mathed~out metal riffage to nearly symphonic bombast. They pull off these pivots with the muscular prowess and skillful precision of lab~tested scientists. To say they make every second count is an understatement.
• But the key to the Death Sequence’s success isn’t a matter of instrumental or compositional chops, or even succinctness. Rather, the Physics House Band manage to cram it all into songs that actually flow. Even their biggest stylistic jumps feel like logical steps in an ascendant journey, particularly on standouts like “Death Sequence iii”: a dreamscape of starry keyboards meshing around the wry spoken word of comedian/writer Stewart Lee, who has described the group as “a Yes or a Rush, but stripped of any errors of taste and judgment.”
• Such telekinetic gelling doesn’t mean Physics House Band are afraid to be abrupt, mind you. The EP’s final track, “???,” ends with a hard cut after less than two minutes of grinding, like the cops showed up to the studio and suddenly pulled the plug. And yet, despite these dizzying turns and surprising musical tricks, Death Sequence never loses its footing. It’s a testament to just how well these four minds sync.
Studio Albums:
✹ Horizons / Rapture (2013, Blood & Biscuits Records)
✹ Mercury Fountain (2017, Small Pond Recordings)
✹ Death Sequence (May 2019, Unearthly Vision)
Website: http://thephysicshouseband.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thephysicshb
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thephysicshouseband/
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