Mystery Box House

Sinister, ominous folk cabaret music. The basic sound is slow to mid-tempo male vocals (Frank Garvey) with an almost celtic sound to the music, but there are lots of things are going on here. Most tracks begin with murky, sinister sound effects that can blend with almost any music.

Female lead vocals: 4, 7, 9, 14
Instrumental: 12
Short ambient: 16, 9

This is the CD version of the superb rock/cabaret/theater show that took place at the Omnicircus (550 Natoma, http://www.omnicircus.com). Strong gothic/industrial influences (note the photos of the robots), touchs of Tom Waits, lots of dark images of decay, but it never seems like a formulaic charicature: there's always *something* in there, just beyond your reach.

1. 3:12 "Entrance" - Spooky ambiance, male vox in the style of arabic/indian vocals.
2. 4:09 "Mystery Box House" -- Strummy (like folk/bluegrass). Male vocals introduce the "Mystery Box House" concept: A mystical hybrid of haunted house and Pandora's box. "You will not know what it's all about/it's your mystery box house."
3. 2:20 "Somone Else's Troubles" -- Sparse, irregular percussion, whispered male vox, ala Tom Waits. "Why buy someone else's troubles, when you can't even afford your own."
4. 2:32 "Dark Oasis" -- Gothic cabaret sound, female vocals.
5. 2:37 "Endless Night" -- Slow, Folky. Male vocals: "Sirens argue with an endless night/harlequins recruit the recently deranged..."
6. 4:50 "Broken Wheel" -- Echoy shipping terminal sound effect => light strumming, slow male vocals. Some female backup vocals.
7. 3:09 "New Beelzebub Blues" -- Female vocals, with female backup; cabaret/music hall style.
8. 3:20 "Breech Baby" -- Nice little catchy nonsense ditty with deranged/ominous overtones:
"Hey look at me! An old burnt tree! Twidledeedee!"
9. 1:28 "Walk" -- Distant whailing female vocals, and twisted percussion transitions into tumultuous noise.
10. 3:50 "Clown Frown" -- Dark circus percussion and bass, fast male vocals in the distance. "Go down, way down -- way down!"
11. 2:51 "2 Rings" -- light folky strumming, slow male vocals, harmonica on fill
12. 3:22 "Kora Solo" -- industrial drone, watery slurping => light strumming, an almost celtic melody. No vocals.
13. 3:07 "Fortune's Eyes" -- Guitar picking, deep male vocals "Fortune's eyes once shown for him/how generous is time/is headlight now is growing dim..."
14. 2:48 "Mystery Box House 2" -- chorus over folk-rock. Vocals without words.
15. 3:25 "Stow Lake" -- Really nice slow female vocals. "I take out my beloved on Stow Lake... to the island where lost ones go..."
16. 1:18 "Hell" -- Murky sinister sound effects.
17. 4:03 "This Much We Know" -- Male vocals, doing a simple sad song: "Season's come and go/This much we know/love will ebb and love will flow", etc.