It’s time to step into the time machine with Morlock and back into an analogue world where strange synths were bringing futuristic soundscapes into the musical cosmos and crossing over into various genres from new-wave to prog. We are in very capable hands as this outfit is helmed by Andrew Prestidge of The Osiris Club accompanied by bandmate Roland Scriver on guitars and percussion. Other guests are involved too, as is a backstory that is not so much HG Wells as HP Lovecraft. This we are told is based on a “conceptual story concept” by sci-fi author Matt Thompson. A quick bit of research shows the Thompson is also a musician known for certain projects such as Zoltan who Prestidge has played drums in. At least the stars are aligning and everything is starting to make sense.
Musically the seven tracks here are essentially instrumental and anyone who grew up listening to the aforementioned genres is going to be in their element and going off on a band ticking exercise when listening to this second album and follow-up to the previous ‘Ancient Paths’ of 2019. That’s not to say Morlock are copyists but I would suspect they pay tribute to a certain extent. The PR blurb certainly drew me to this with mentions of artists, some were spot on, others I just didn’t find but this made this album all the more intriguing.
We start are journey with racing keys and bouncing drums taking us off on a bit of a space chase over the strange world of ‘Vulpine Megaliths.’ You don’t need vocals here as once the main melody quirkily comes through it is like the machines are doing the talking. Naturally it’s got a soundtrack element to it along with prog and space-rock, strangely it has a bit of a ‘mission impossible’ signature tune about it, getting right beneath the skin. What strange race do we meet next, the ‘Flower Fiends!’ Now that would have made an interesting episode of (the original) Star Trek. Here the keyboards have the unmistakable waft of Tubeway Army about them as pointed out by the PR, perhaps a bit of solo Dave Brock too. Prog flows via another mentioned artist The Cardiacs but here it is at their mellowest and most relaxed as the melody moves snakelike around the drums bursting in the background as these flowery fiends release strange hypnotic pollen. The ‘Host Roots’ are next to entwine and I am in a place where I can’t help thinking over other strange mutants similar to those masked on the cover art, namely Poisoned Electrick Head, here the guitars do the talking with an almost Shadows like surf twang.
Further research is necessary due to spoken narration over ambient synths on ‘The Prodigy. There’s several matches to the name Maurice Bendrix (among them the narrator of Graham Greene’s The End Of The Affair) and I feel like I could have fallen down a rabbit hole. With no definitive answer I note his presence as very effective before moving into the main song and find myself hypnotised once more by the calm flowing and mellow alien warbles of the naturally flowing piece of music. The pace picks up and pulses off with ‘The Outcasts’ adding some vocals but of a vocorder nature which gives it a bit of a rock opera vibe on the short number. ‘The Dream Harvester’ sounds like the sort of music that may have accompanied one of those shows about science in the 70’s when the TV was wheeled out into the classroom for a lesson. Anyone who was educated during that era will fondly remember these lessons and their “dreamy nature.” This track is a bit of a long-lost memory coming home to roost. Finally, we have my favourite here ‘Geological Crustaceans’ and a perhaps different sounding style from all that has come before it. This has an Italian horror soundtrack sensibility or perhaps of a strange invader popping down to visit us and cause mayhem. There’s a Tubular Bells style repetitive call, simple in a Close Encounters styled “takeover” but I am also taken in with visions of films such as Stridulum / The Visitor (1979 Giulio Paradisi) and Beyond The Door (1974 Ovidio G. Assonitis).
Of course there are no right or wrong answers in my perhaps meandering write up here but this album has done an incredibly effective job in putting images in my head and has shown me all sorts of wonderful sights over the short 35 minute journey. Speaking of that, it also illustrates that not all works of a proggy nature need to be totally overblown and pompous. Hopefully ‘Outcasts’ will find an audience befitting its visionary touch. I have certainly enjoyed it as it took me to unexpected and enjoyable places. Apparently, there is promise of an expanded live line-up playing in the near future too.
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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