When they finally manage to upload our souls into that big cloud in the sky, what do you want our tech Gods to focus on first? This will be, after all, the place where you’ll be spending eternity, so it’s only natural that you’re going to have some expectations as well as fears of whether your family can still make the bill each month.
While I’m sure there are some who will want to focus on the number of activities that they’ll get to do, on the colour of the drapes in their house, or on ensuring that they’ll have enough stimulating conversation on a daily basis, I’m not sure that’s really putting our priorities in place. Spending eternity would mean being trapped in hell without the proper soundtrack. Captain Mantis knows just what that means.
That all-important soundtrack ought to be new, but also remind you of the very greatest songs that you’ve ever heard. It needs to honour the music that’s meant most to you, but also provide you with some surprises. “Vice Market” by Captain Mantis is an EP of songs for the true rock believers, classic rock designed to be heard for all eternity.
How does one achieve that? Take a listen to the EP’s opener, “Moonshine Alley,” a groovy rock track inspired by the sounds of guitar bands of the 1970s and one that, at certain times, could double as an ideal soundtrack for retro spy movies. This is music as you’ve heard before, in the form of a song that you’ve never heard before.
That same mix of warmly familiar and daringly fresh can be observed on the Beatlesque “Simon Frost,” where folk-rock melodies fold up and give way to cantankerous blues-rock riffs. It’s a tune that feels like Ringo Starr fronting Thin Lizzy.
There’s also room here for colourful, and surprisingly tender, psychedelic-rock excursions on “Galatea,” a song that brings to mind the successful musical experiments of the 1960s.
Where does it all leave us? The title track, “Vice Market,” is an imaginative, ambitious piece that quotes the spirit of the 1960s, the daringness to create rock songs so well-crafted that listeners of future eras would have no choice but to listen back to them. Can you picture “Vice Market” being played for all eternity?
