Best tunes of 2020: #7 Secret Machines “Everything’s under”

As I mentioned in my last post for this series, 2020 was a crazy time.

But not all the surprises were bad. In August, five months into the worldwide pandemic, American indie rock band Secret Machines surprise-released a new album, their first in twelve years.

I had gotten into the American indie rock trio fifteen or so years earlier, shortly after the release of their debut album. I distinctly remember browsing in End Hits, a long defunct music store in downtown Ottawa, and opting for Islands’ debut “Return the sea” over the Secret Machines’ sophomore release, 2006’s “Ten silver drops” because I could only afford to take home one CD. I’ve since remedied my possible misstep, having long since added both of Secret Machines’ first two records to my record shelves. I actually saw them live in 2008, but this was after founding guitarist Benjamin Curtis had left the band to start School of Seven Bells with Alejandra and Claudia Deheza and the remaining Machines released their self-titled third album. Since then, though, all had been pretty quiet from the band’s camp. A fourth album had been rumoured to be in the works* but the things went completely ghost town around 2010. there was never an official announcement of them disbanding. But still, I figured I’d heard the last of Secret Machines when I saw frontman Brandon Curtis performing as a touring member of Interpol when I saw them live in 2015.

Then, “Awake in the brain chamber”.

I don’t know what I was expecting to hear when I slipped it on shortly after its summer release, but for me, it was like hearing the band again for the first time. With these eight songs, Secret Machines managed to replicate the energy from their first two albums but with everything tightened considerably. They had previously gotten tagged with the new-prog label for their penchant for extending their jams, even on their singles, but only one song here surpassed the five minute mark and the whole album is just over a half hour long. Not a weak moment in the bunch and the album ended up at number five on my end of the year list.

“Beneath the silence of the sun ⁣⁣
It’s waiting there as we become perfectly undone.”

My favourite track on “Awake in the brain chamber” was the final song on side one. It is lightning in a bottle. Rife with that driving and relentless drone that had critics calling them krautrock acolytes in their early days. The difference is, like elsewhere on the album, it never outstays its welcome, choosing instead to tantalize us breathlessly and leave us yearning for me. Incredible stuff.