After shimmering on the horizon for months, the highly-anticipated new album Interdwell is among us. Created over a span of years by Dark Sky Alliance — an eclectic group comprised of music industry veterans: percussionist Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel, Indigo Girls), keyboardist Rupert Greenall (The Fixx), soundscaping synthesist Eric “the” Taylor, and sound-maestro guitarist David Helpling.
Press release by Beth Hilton
Wholly unique in style and sound, the group’s new music reveals welcome shades of past works for which each artist is known: new wave guitar flourishes, tribal ambient percussion, richly layered synth-beds, and cinematic crescendos, enmeshed with masterful contributions by colleagues Jamie West-Oram, Robert Rich, Joe Locke, Tony Levin, and the late Sonam Targee.
Tidal link
Interdwell’s twelve compositions draw inspiration from the personal and the cosmic, the natural world and the fantastical. The album’s first epic opens with Fortunate One featuring chanting from the late Sonam Targee and builds layer upon layer from there. Halfway through, a propulsive bass groove entwines with Targee’s chants, shifting from melancholic to euphoric, a celebration of the time we’re gifted with those we love. Warm Inlet was inspired by a view of the Adirondacks on 7th Lake that can only be seen by boat; new wave guitar warbles paint the glimmering whitecaps, a steady bassline the powerful undercurrent, with Vangelis-esque synth chords the sun on the mountain peaks.
A dreamlike and reflective favorite, The Slow Train Home, was born from Eric “the” Taylor’s first ever recording session with Marotta and bassist Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson) over 20 years ago. Levin’s emotive upright bass glides through an electronic landscape both airy and rich, like a lonely traveler watching the hills roll by. This is music for the imagination.
The title track Interdwell takes the listener beyond Earth, depicting humanity’s journey through space: the tribal march of Marotta’s percussion as a voyager, shimmering sequencers as stars through the viewport, anthemic electric guitar as a starship’s acceleration, a distant destination finally reached. Jerry confides, “Eric, Rupert and I have been working on music together in one form or another for many many years,” Rupert continues the thought, “Working with Jerry and Eric for the last 15 years or so has resulted in us having our own style as The Fragile Fate.” They invited David Helpling to have a listen; the results are their first album, Interdwell a vivid, inspiring odyssey throughout, a work that carries the listener from a sun-dappled lake to the furthest reaches of space and back again, leaving only the desire to experience it all over again.
For more information and music samples, visit spottedpeccary.com/shop/interdwell.
