Sheep Fiends - Frequency Override
"Frequency Override" finds veteran Chicago improvisationalists Sheep Fiends in a contemplative and oddly motivated mood. This is the 3rd Sheep Fiends release of 2023. Can I explain this?
"19 Days Long (part one)" begins a search for meaning as I look for it in nature, books, cars, God and therapy. Or is harsh self-examination the answer? "Believe in the Hole" offers a possible option - a metaphysical entity in my closet that represents and absorbs all evil intent and negativity. Believing in the hole can bring comfort, for a short while at least. At first I'm skeptical and say to close the closet door but then as my neighbors begin disappearing I bond with the hole and I perform the ritual of the devout.
"With the Scorpion" wraps up this album segment with an epic rant that starts by discussing how you (I?) are back from the underground and gonna get it right this time, though the mediocrity all around is now in vivid focus. The music is space disco with a sequenced beat as well as a drummer - the dance moves punctuated with bursts of electric guitar.
"It's like my food was just ok
And my day went so-so
And I tried to grasp on to my dreams
But they were never even there you know"
Dang Scratch!
"Oscillation (Across the Nation)" reflects upon how we are all subject to the whims of nature and logic and movement and should just go ahead and resonate with it and fall in line. "Down at the Mall" is largely a lament about what once was and how shocking forced change can be, as well as a tribute to those tiny kiosks that also fall with the retail giants.
Kicking off what I consider Side 2 is "Deleted by JKR-47" - a strong McNally number about the continuous encroachment of technology during our finite lifespans. But then Mark and Paul interject! It is time to "Rejuvenate", it is time to become 'new, fresh, young' again! "THIS IS ROCK" examines youth in all its grody excellence. It castigates the trappings of fanciness as well as diet soda. It urges you to 'get pregnant in the bathroom' and worship your younger days.
And finally we have "Frequency Override" where I plead: 'that thing coming for us that we can't stop - what's that thing and how will we repel it?'. The thing arrives anyway and integrates with you. It will see 'all the way through to your end'. An alien invasion or something more psychic? 'I welcome you to show me a better way'. Yea there's kind of a theme floating around this CD. The song ends with a quiet kind of saloon piano playing off in the distance...
