The Myrrors Hasta La Victoria

June 14, 2017

The Myrrors Hasta La Victoria

The Myrrors are an experimental psychedelic folk band drenched in creativity from the deserts of Arizona. Their music captures the spirit of the American Southwestern landscape and its harsh mystic beauty. In The Myrrors ‘Hasta La Victoria’ is an element of political unrest for a complex and uniquely challenging album which juxtaposes natural environments with political upheaval. The new album comes on the heels of the 2016 release, ‘Entranced Earth’ also released through Beyond Beyond Is Beyond Records in New York. It is a mystic journey with fluid songs perfectly suited for a shamanic meditation. The compositions explore turmoil and beauty, with dense layers of instrumentation to create a moving soundscape. It has the energy and spontaneity of acid-rock improvisation with studio production. The guitars that were ever present on previous releases are absent replaced by a variety of organs, keyboards, flutes, tanpura, violin, bouzouki and many other instruments. The album carries a theme which return and repeat in each track making it play like one continuous song. The closest comparisons are bands like Popal Vuh, Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel and world folk music.

The Myrrors

The Myrrors functions as a collective with a rotating cast lead by the multi-instrumentalist Grant Beyschau and Nik Rayne. They take inspiration from rock, krautrock, free jazz, Latin American, Turkish and Native American folk music. The band states that they are deeply influenced by the sun, moon, stars and their surrounding environment. The current political atmosphere in the United States is tense with protests and public dissent spilling into the streets on a regular basis, thus this album has the air of revolution. The theme of unrest is strongly felt in ‘Somos La Resistencia’ and ‘Hasta La Victoria’. These tracks create tension with marching drums and wild intense horns edging toward free form jazz.

‘Hasta La Victoria’ has complex tracks with densely layered instrumentation. ‘Organ Mantra’ has a repeated melody which established itself as a theme that returns in new ways throughout the album. Songs such as ‘Tea House’ have an open, airy atmosphere that grows organically like a time lapse of sand dunes shifting. The world instruments are played unconventionally and are difficult to identify. They are distorted and effected by amps and pedals. The ambient moments on the album have a palatable sense of mysticism that washes over the listener and gives sweet relief from the intensity of songs like ‘Somos La Resistencia’.

The lyrical content is minimal and the narrative is described instrumentally. ’Somos La Resistencia’ has echo and reverb drenched vocals with nearly indecipherable lyrics. This approach is similar to the vocal styling on their early albums ‘Arena Negra’ and ‘Burning Circles In The Sky’. ‘Hasta La Victoria’ the albums title track, uses the human voice as a backdrop through the entire ten minutes. It sounds like a loop of shouting, percussive vocalization that is distorted and layered with reverb and echo. It creates the impression of hundreds of distant voices emoting in political protest.

The album is highly creative with the use of unconventional instrumentation and in the sonic landscape presented. It is so original that at times it can be difficult to find a comfortable foothold. The music washes away all sense of familiarity before it transitions to beautiful ambient sections made more powerful through juxtaposition. It tells a story of natural beauty and the human spirit connecting to the cosmos. This inner peace is then challenged by the turmoil present with-in human society. The Myrrors Hasta La Victoria tells this story abstractly leaving the listeners imagination to create the narrative. For some, the album will be too unconventional and challenging, for others, it can inspire deep contemplation and raw emotional impressions.

The myrrors