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I spoke with Paul Masvidal–guitarist, singer, and a founding member of Cynic–backstage in New York City a few days ago as of this writing. As I was packing up after the interview, we talked briefly about “pick-me-up” albums. Everyone has one or two: my father’s is Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA, my mother’s is Fleetwood Mac’s 1997 live record The Dance. Cynic’s Traced in Air is my pick-me-up album. True story: once, when I was out of medication, I listened to TiA in the midst of a sudden-onset fever. At the end of “Nunc Stans”, my thermometer read 97 degrees.
Given that, I asked Paul Masvidal what he listens to when he feels down. After a brief moment of reflection, he answered with a hint of a smile in a measured tone: “I really like Elliot Smith. He really digs in”. That piece of information unpacked Carbon-Based Anatomy, the 2011 EP: more than Re-Traced, this is Cynic’s singer-songwriter record.
Carbon-Based Anatomy continues the style of Traced in Air, but functions directly opposite to its predecessor. Traced in Air works as a guideline for escaping oneself, beginning inside a human speaker on “The Space for This” and then projected outward through time, space, science, and religion. “Carbon-Based Anatomy” begins on the outside, with Masvidal in his synthesized alien voice looking inside: “Homo Sapiens, and your Carbon-Based Anatomy…” Before Cynic beams the listener back up for a second round, the background drops away until there is only an unmodified Masvidal with a clean guitar tone. “Drop the math / Drop the storyline, just for a moment / Calm the mind / The longing never ends, not while you’re human”.
Carbon-Based Anatomy does not drop the math completely (Masvidal, drummer Sean Reinert, and bassist Sean Malone are too talented to dumb the music down), but it abandons almost every stylistic remnant from Focus—the growls have been dropped entirely, the processed vocals have been minimized, synthesizers have been relegated to texture-creators while the tempo has been reigned in.
Progressive metal leans toward excess; pomposity undermines all but the finest records of this sort. Carbon-Based Anatomy has none of that dead weight—even its intro, outro, and ‘filler’ track are essential to the EP’s flow. It feels compact—small without weakness. What Masvidal has learned (presumably from Elliot Smith and his peers) is to temper his music with intimacy.
Case in point: second track proper, “Box Up My Bones”. Complete with uplifting sing-along chorus and a torrent of ‘whoahs’, the song becomes saccharine. This attitude may alienate a huge segment of metaldom (even more so than a song about elves), but it affords Masvidal and company an expanded palate of emotions to play with. Yet, at the same time, it feels like Cynic is playing directly to you-yes-you, instead of some undefined would-be listener.
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Cynic – “Carbon-Based Anatomy”
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Cynic – “Box Up My Bones”
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BUY CARBON-BASED ANATOMY
Season of Mist (CD, LP + download, Transparent colored LP + download)
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did Sean Malone play on this?
Press material states he is still a studio-only member.
@Joseph Schafer Did the material also state whether or not the EP was recorded in a studio?
Elliott Smith ftw lolz!!!!!!1
nice. looking forward to seeing them next week. love everything they did so far, your review really makes me look forward to this EP and the show.
thanks. and elliot smith is fantastic.
Cynic is one of those bands that I’ve never gotten around to listening to in my years of listening to metal. I’m all for eclecticism, but an Elliott Smith reference isn’t exactly making regret this…
This one caught me off guard. I’ve never been a huge fan of their first album, though it’s not terrible, and I still haven’t heard the last one. When I stumbled across this on spotify a couple weeks ago, I found it oddly good, if entirely un-metal. It might be the best example of modern prog that succeeds through melody and songcraft rather than instrumental showmanship. It’s a ‘modern’ take on the genre without question, but there’s a warmth underlying the songs that reminds me of classic prog like Genesis and Yes.
Pretty cool stuff. Approach with ears and mind open and you might find something here.
At what point does “Drop the Math” appear in the song? Nearly certain it’s “Stop the Clock, Drop the Story Line..”
Aside, excellent article and one of my favorite albums released this year. Been on repeat since I got my hands on it
Excellent review. Especially the Elliott Smith reference made me listen with fresh ears and normally this would not have been down my alley but with this in mind I didn’t mind that it isn’t Metal per se.
And I concur with Wash that this is an interesting and warm new take on Prog that avoids falling into the 70s retro trap.
~1:54 “Drop the knife / leave your arms behind.”
Very nice review. Re-sparked my interest to hear this, and I’m now very glad I did.
Man. I really like there first album, hated the production on tranced in air. This isn’t really doing much for me either. I Feels really saturated, like koolaide with to much koolaide powder and not enough water.