Some Distant Memory – “True Power”

Some Distant Memory – “True Power” – Single Review

You have to wonder about what the heck Some Distant Memory is up to over there.  As far as I can tell, there have been records that have been released both last year and this year, yet we keep on diving into what has been created in the past.  We checked out a song back in September called “Splash Around” from the album Archetype, and today we’ve got a track called “True Power” from a record called Infinitum – both released back in 2017 in the world according to Spotify.  Was I expecting anything less than a completely strange experience this time around after what I’d heard back in September?  Heck no!  These kind of weird projects tend to stay weird for the duration of their careers, start to finish.

So…I have thrown the proverbial dart at the wheel after spinning it for a dealer’s choice sample of what is on Infinitum, and I decided to go with “True Power” – because why not share my first impressions with you about what the first impressions of the album would be, with this single being track number one?  Does this track make a whole lot more sense than the last one I’d listened to by Some Distant Memory?  Not really, no.  I think that would be a bit of a stretch to say that.  Some Distant Memory seems to be proudly built on distorting the perception of what music could be, and I support that to an extent, even if it doesn’t necessarily equate to something I’d usually reach for to add to my playlists.  I dig the artists and bands out there in our independent scene like Some Distant Memory that choose to do things differently than the rest do…it’s moments like listening to “True Power” that remind me how weird, wacky, and wonderful this world of music can truly be, and pass or fail, I always appreciate that.

Madness.  “True Power” ultimately sounds a lot like what you remember Mario throwing fireballs up against a warp pipe is like to hear, and pretty much on repeat.  There are a few other scattered beats thrown in the mix, the faint hum of some machinery-like-melody in the background, and some random spoken word added in along the way.  Is it music for the masses?  No.  Again, I don’t think that’s news to Some Distant Memory – you make music like this to challenge the status quo and every set of ears that comes across what you create & don’t end up pursuing art like this without expecting a lot of raised eyebrows.  I could attempt to give you theories on what “True Power” is all about…but that’s all they’d be – theories.  It sounds like a captain guiding us on a crash course of some spaceship’s final mission before it burns up in the sun if you ask me, but I don’t expect that I’m anywhere close to right about that.  Lyrically, it’s more widespread than that…like freeform poetry without rules.  Honestly, I’m not all that sure that anyone out there would be able to come up with anything beyond a mere theory.  Each line on its own has individual merit – “what I see strikes me as odd/light and shadow getting weak” – but even with them being somewhat shouted at us, “the cause is unknown to me I can’t tell what course to take” – it’s all fairly monotone and robotic in delivery, and there’s very little variation beyond the sporadic way each phrase is unpredictably added into the song.  If there is a point to the “True Power” beyond its strangeness, then so be it of course…but objectively speaking, having a track like this as the gateway into a record is going to send nine and a half people out of ten screaming in the opposite direction.  As in, it’s tough to say that “True Power” would necessarily be enough to entice folks into listening to the rest of Infinitum, and clearly that’s a gamble Some Distant Memory is willing to take for reasons that we’ll probably never fully understand.  Such is art, such is life…we’re not really expected to ‘get it’ all.  We listen, and we do our best to figure things out.  But in the words of Some Distant Memory, “the cause is unknown to me” – whatever is happening here is well-beyond my own mental capacity, this much I know.  What is “True Power” about?  Your guess will be every bit as good as mine could ever be, and I wish you all the best in decoding whatever Some Distant Memory is attempting to communicate through the bizarre music this project is making.

Find more music from Some Distant Memory at Apple Music:  https://music.apple.com/us/artist/some-distant-memory/1218042427

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