by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Scatter, the wild and expansive third album from Western Mass’ This New Basement arrived five years to the day after their prior effort, Bulb. For a prog band that are meticulous as they are, that doesn’t seem like a coincidence but more a grand gesture… the long wait is over. The band (which features the ever incredible Max Goldstein of Maxshh/Tundrastomper) have never been one to hold back and nothing in that regard has changed this time around. The songs are all written in wide-screen format, with glorious attention to detail, and shifts that warp in and out of genre with fluid dexterity. There’s so much to take in that it requires several listens, but the progressive odyssey of Scatter is one that eventually rewards familiarity.
“I Don’t Mind The Taste!” is the album’s centerpiece, a mountainous 10+ minute extravaganza led on vocals by special guest Dan Shaw of Landowner. The video was directed and animated by Wishbone Zoe, who is quickly becoming one of our favorite music video auteurs and an artistic inspiration. Trying to keep pace with the song’s psychedelic detachment and the layered madness, the video is also pretty darn weird, in the most beautiful and engaging of ways. Animation blends together with video footage, from textural design to shapeshifting creatures, the song’s open framework and lengthy run-time allow Wishbone Zoe time to evolve concepts in what feels like thousands of directions, ebbing and flowing with the composition from its most tense to its most serene. Nothing is off limits and everything is explored in full.