Music Review // STEVE'S 9TH INCARNATION "9TH INCARNATION"

https://9thincarnation.bandcamp.com/album/9th-incarnation //

It's funny to me how music can feel connected.   Only recently I was typing about this cassette called "Steve / Steve", which made me remember that movie from 2000 called "The Tao of Steve", and here I am once again, reminded of it because of this opening track.   After that initial feeling of being launched into space, the second track goes into this carnival funhouse type of vibe which just feels upbeat but also like we're going to find danger around any corner.

The way this can go from heavily distorted to acoustic reminds me of some combination of Beck and David Bowie.    The guitar riffs can walk as well, feeling like a western but without the country.   In that way, I can only really relate it to a band like Fastball because there aren't too many others doing this that I can recall.   They also have sad undertones as the chorus of "Numbers" sings "He has no one to call sweetheart anymore".

While "Oh," is a slower song, a different sort of trip, it is one of the most intense on the album.    The organs ring through as well and there is just this overall space-western trippy feel on these songs that other artists are just not brave enough to explore.    As much as it feels like every guitar note is met with a word of singing on "Oh," we go into a song like "Doggie" next which is instrumental. 

"Liability Steve" brings back the vocals and then for a bit on "Wooty's Big Bowl" it is instrumental, though when the words do kick in they're softly spoken with beats.   I feel like this resembles something from the 1980's or early 1990's but I can't quite put my finger on what it is exactly.    But it's smooth and I like it because it's that perfect pace to keep you moving without ever growing too fast.

Lately I've been thinking about whether or not all artists are depressed or if it's just the ones that I listen to somehow.  I never really hear lyrics about how great life is going and how happy they are to be alive, but rather, as with the last song on this album it's usually something like this:

"Life seems so pointless most of the time
I slide deeper into darkness"

What I've found is that it's not that all artists are depressed I just think that the better ones are, at least for my ears.  We all struggle.  We all go through shit.  And having songs about that brings us closer together, it makes us feel less alone.    So if you are prepared to feel less alone, more accepted, then let STEVE'S 9TH INCARNATION take you on a journey you won't soon forget.