STREAMING IN FULL VIA DAZED
“[Mysteries evoke] 1981 synthpop and 1991 industrial, via 2001-era Warp.
File next to: Eno/Bowie, Wire, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode“ – The Guardian
File next to: Eno/Bowie, Wire, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode“ – The Guardian
Today, Mysteries is releasing their debut album New Age Music Is Here via Felte. In celebration of its release, the band is streaming the album in full, and it is available for streaming and embedHERE. The album stream premiered via Dazed, who called the record “a wrenching, and at times menacing, journey – but luckily New Age Music Is Here doesn’t shy away from a resolute chorus to help pull it through the hard times.“
The album stream comes after the release of singles “Deckard,” “Newly Thrown,” “Authenticity Machine” and “Ev’rything.” “Deckard” quickly garnered praise across the pond from The Guardian, who named Mysteries “Band of the Week.” Additionally, NME featured the band in its reveredRadar column, and “Deckard” was highlighted by tastemaker Laura Laverne on BBC6. Following the release of “Deckard,” the band revealed “Newly Thrown,” which Stereogum praised for its “grooving pulse and weary croon… fleshed out by eerie ethereal mood music.” “Authenticity Machine” was lauded by Noisey as “moodily obtuse: drum sticks clatter, doomy synths rumble-almost on a trip-hop tip-while the singer’s languorously paced, velvety tones contain the warmth and depth of Elbow’s Guy Garvey.” The group also recently shared “Ev’rything” via Self-Titled, who praised its “self assured… steam-pressed pop grooves.”
Mysteries is just as it implies. A few months ago the Felte label received an anonymous demo accompanied by a photo of 3 figures, faces covered like some sort of futuristic druids. To this day the label still doesn’t know the group’s origin, but the joy of discovering this music unimpeded renders this fact almost irrelevant.
There’s a sense that the band would prefer to keep your focus on the music and not who they are, where they come from or what you might perceive them to be before hearing a single note. If you need glorious mug shots and preamble to capture your intrigue, then this is not for you. The album’s title, New Age Music is Here, could even be interpreted as a sarcastic shot at the new listening habits dictated by the constant noise all around us, but is more likely a simple invitation to engage with the music on its own terms, in its own universe.
One thing is certain, New Age Music Is Here glows with exotic, crunchy, muscular, expressive pop music built around vocals and drums, rather than the big synth or guitar riffs prevalent today. Almost like a psych-rock, cyborg, 50’s doo-wop Alice Coltrane if you will. Is it truly new age? We definitely haven’t heard much like it.
New Age Music Is Here tracklist:
01. Introduction (New Age Music is Here)
02. Knight Takes Rook
03. Newly Thrown
04. Stateless Wonder
06. Motion
07. Ev’rything
08. I Wanna
09. Call and Response, With Morals
10. In The Dark
11. Deckard
12. Trust
