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5th PROJEKT – The Wolf
| March 07, 2023 | Organik Rekords |
| EP | Digital | 18:59 | 4 tracks |
| Art Rock / Psychedelic Prog | Toronto, ON, Canada |
The Dawn of a new Trilogy
Tara Rice and Sködt McNalty, two multi-instrumentalists and music storytellers from Toronto have created progressive, cinematic and psychedelic music for almost two decades. In their arts, the duo explores spheres beyond the conscious. Dreamscapes, mythical and fantastic tales, ancient lores, visions of the third eye, or mind-opening images are fertile ground and inspiration for the works of 5th PROJEKT.
An important part of the ouevre that emerges from the creative minds of McNalty and Rice is cohesion, and thus their narratives are set in universe very similar to ours. In early 2022, the three-track EP The Labyrinth dealt with magical themes wich are now picked up a year later on the duo’s latest release The Wolf. And speaking of cohesion, the new four-track Extented Player is not just a continuation of 5th PROJEKT’s sonic tales on magic, The Wolf is futhermore the first part of a trilogy of EPs. The following releases The Owl (2024) and The Bee (tba) will continue the narrative.
Following the Goddess to the End of the World
As a source for inspiration, 5th PROJEKT’s Tara Rice and Sködt McNalty undertook a journey of 40 days along the tracks of the Camino Santiago de Compostela and the Camino Finisterre. Those two routes, one of them also called The Way of the Goddess and the other one simply named after the end of the world have left their meditational and meaningful impressions in the minds of McNalty and Rice. Getting rid of ballast and negativity, exploring their own roots, destination and centres, the two artists have undergone a truly refining alchemical process.
Surrounded by nature and covered by the starlit sky, Rice and McNalty explored the world where druids and their queen once used to live. Ancient knowledge, closeness to nature and a deep connection between stars and soil, between past and future can be experienced in this region. It was here, where 5th PROJEKT encountered a majestical wolf, and where they found plenty of material which has made it into the sounds of The Wolf and its successive EPs.
Vibrant and Cinematic Variety
The four tracks on The Wolf are defined by great versatility. Four spells, each of them unique in sounds and yet earthed in the same soil are uttered via cinematic and thrilling soundscapes. The opener Autopilot Disengage is a musical hommage to letting go of the ties of our everyday life with all of its ties. Somewhere between Art Rock and Prog with supplements of Psychedelia and Space Rock, 5th PROJEKT invite their audience to exit the ferris wheel of late-day capitalist reality and become a Vagabond instead. The second track is a deeply thrilling journey into the most exciting and fantastic realms of a new reality.
After this mesmerizing reverie, a darker soundscape is introduced as 5th PROJEKT warn their listeners from taking The Wrong Way. A dark vortex with strong suction tries to get the wanderer off the safe path but fortunately, The Pace can be found afterwards. Celtic Folk turns into a coherent and gentle wonderland made from Kraut Rock and Psychedelic Prog. There is no time here, because all dreams and stories end and begin here.
Healing Alchemy
Terms like Cinematic Art Rock, Psychedelic Prog or Kraut Rock appear to be used inflationary recently, but talking about 5th PROJEKT’s The Wolf they fit perfectly. One could also say that the EP is a work of Healing Alchemy through Music. The Wolf is a journey that begins amidst modern human society and it ends at the self. With two more parts of this trilogy still to come, the anticipation of the continuitaiton of the stoy is huge.
9/10 Mangoes
All pictures by courtesy of 5th PROJEKT
