‘Mercy Of The Crane Folk’ is the beautifully accomplished second album from Athens GA’s Immaterial Possession. Taking the listener on an apocalyptic spiralling journey, today they reveal new single and title track with a delightfully, mind bending video that captures their outlandish spirit.
‘Mercy of the Crane Folk’ is a Sisyphean tale of feeding a persuasive ghost that never gets full, “the video is set up in a tower, high above the sea, a hungry sorcerer and his sprucely dressed understudy engage in a magical ritual.. gone awry..” adds Immaterial Possession
“One of the few bands among their contemporaries who never waver into gimmickry or empty homage.. Authentically removed from its modern setting, the LP’s title track is a vintage-hued epic central to the album’s broader narrative.” Flood Magazine
Featuring the ethereal eerie dream pop of former artist commune residents Cooper Holmes and Madeline Polites, with drummer John Spiegel and Elephant 6 descendant Kiran Fernandes (keyboards, clarinets, flutes). Additional contributions come from drummer Jon Vogt (who can be heard on ‘Mercy Of The Crane Folk’ and ‘Birth Of Queen Croaker’).
It’s a haunting and immersive trip into the inner psyche of these nomadic soothsayers; a psychedelic dance party from a half-lit underground world; breathlessly eerie and all consuming; a salubrious sojourn that sounds like nothing else. Filled with a kind of peculiar optimistic uncertainty that any quest to make sense of a drowsy recollection of simpler and far better times would have; ‘Mercy Of The Crane Folk’ is soft and serene summoning up a fanciful folkloric place where, undoubtedly, the mysterious crane flock prosper.
The music is all-consuming – you hear that echoey guitar similar to Ennio Morricone soundtracks, there are words but there are also Yma Sumac-like operatics pricking at your psyche. It’s one of those great happenings that you almost feel like you dreamt; melodies tumble into the undergrowth, that keyboard sound is straight from Richard Wright circa ‘Saucerful Of Secrets’, that folky ambience is a glimpse of what you always thought The Incredible String Band could sound like but with a driving, haunting edge.
A mythical “experience” that you don’t want to end, some place you never want to come down from… a warm glowing fantastical secret fete happening through the dark woods. It feels strangely comfortable and safe; a place to collapse into; with a soundtrack that seems so familiar; an ambient spiritual symphony that constantly returns in hazy half memories.
