The Moth, the Lizard, and the Secret Machines＜Clear White Vinyl＞

Recorded in 2010, The Moth, The Lizard, and the Secret Machines is Secret Machines abandoned fourth album, a sonically ambient and experimental production that offers an aesthetic bridge between their 2008 self-titled LP and 2020s Awake in the Brain Chamber. Having separated from their label and management around the time of their 2008 effort, the core Secret Machines trio of Brandon Curtis, Josh Garza, and Phil Karnats began work on a planned follow-up. Taking advantage of the creative freedom and lack of managerial oversight, they recorded in a more open-minded way than before, jamming out tracks and then listening back to decide on what to disregard and what to keep building upon. While the results were promising, the bandmembers were eventually pulled in other directions. Though he had already left the band, the death of Curtis brother and founding member Benjamin Curtis from T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma in 2013 further pushed the group away from finishing an album. They finally reunited for 2020s Awake in the Brain Chamber, an effort that helped to reestablish their creative focus. It was in that renewed headspace that they began revisiting the 2010 recordings, finalizing the tracks as needed. These are slow-moving, sonically textural songs that lean heavily into the groups psychedelic influences. Cuts like "Run Out the Silver Light" and "Even Out the Overflow" are ethereal feeling, with shimmering vocals often buried deep within refracted basslines, spirals of distorted guitars, and clipped drum beats. Somewhat more tangible and pop-infused are "Theres No Starting Over" and "You Want It Worse," which marry the bands vaporous shoegaze instrumentals with a proggy, Krautrock sensibility. ~ Matt Collar