Album Review: Secret Machines – Awake In The Brain Chamber


Awake In The Brain Chamber 1




Heralded as space rock pioneers a decade-and-a-half ago, Secret Machines – against all expectations and amidst a backdrop that has been beset by tragedy – are finally ready to release their fourth album.

Never mainstream rock in sound yet somehow granted a place at the top table by luminaries including U2, Oasis, Kings Of Leon and David Bowie (who even interviewed them), their progressive krautrock had no shortage of fans before the band was put on ice in 2010.

Brandon Curtis (guitarist and singer) joined Interpol, but sadly in 2013 his brother Benjamin passed away after a short battle with an aggressive form of lymphoma. After dalliances in various side-projects, Benjamin and drummer Josh Garza teased a return in 2018, but at the start of the following year Garza’s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and so the reunion was understandably put on hold.

Indeed, it wasn’t guaranteed that this album would come out at all, but the stars have aligned and, with their shared experiences deepening their bond, Garza and Curtis bludgeon us into submission once more. Still in place are the dreamy harmonies, cacophonous drumming and ethereal soundscapes; recorded over the last decade, the inconsequential jams that were sprinkled over their first three albums have been jettisoned to make way for more discipline.

Their return commences with as much grandiosity as one would expect: Let’s Stay Alive is widescreen, dreamy shoegaze with crashing drums and stoic, nightclub-level bass throb, while Dreaming Is Alright takes things up a notch with an electronic sheen atop motorik propulsion.  In Secret Machines’ absence, The Horrors have acquired one or two of their tricks, but the Americans are seemingly out to reclaim them, best exemplified here but with added volume as the squalling guitars and (you guessed it) incandescent drums dominate all before them.

The stuttering, mighty Talos’ Corpse is emotional and defiant in the way good pop is, perhaps referencing Curtis’ own dilemma about continuing with the band (‘I want to give up but don’t’).

Like Neu but louder and more desperate, Everything’s Under (‘another tale of guts and glory but no memory for itself’) brings back the krautrock but with chiming guitars which complement the pulsating rhythm. In what is presumably a companion piece, successive track Everything Starts is more shoegaze, with a melody reminiscent of early Ride. A marauding bassline is the flagpole around which Angel Come, otherwise all bursts of life announced via crashing cymbals, is built. Doom-laden at one level but optimistic in other ways, it’s as good as anything they’ve ever put their name to.

A New Disaster contains guitars that could slice through steel but is perhaps the nearest Secret Machines get to a rock track in structure. Strip away the production and replace it with FM guitars and it could be Foo Fighters. Lastly, closer So Far Down is a cathartic release, generating emotions of acceptance and then progression in its optimistic piano. But rest assured, the drums are still deafening.



With truly epic production levels, Secret Machines still stamp over all in their path. While age and tragedy may have made them more reflective and sanguine, they are still as gargantuan as they ever were.

8/10

Richard Bowes


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