Slippery, elusive, and prone to flying off at odd angles and obscure tangents at a moments notice, The Science Group's arcane musical theorems function as a virtual object lesson in leaving the listener in the lurch.
A quick perusal of the participants resumes (Henry Cow, Art Bears, Massacre, Thinking Plague, 5uu's, and Tone Dogs to name but a few) should clue you in to the magnitude of talent involved here. Together, Chris Cutler, Fred Frith, Bob Drake, Steven Tickmayer, and Amy Denio form something of an avant-prog nerd's dream band. Next to the structural chicanery and time signature torture on display here though, the participants' other ensembles sound like Menudo.
Now oppressive, now expansive, Drake's patented paradoxical production values (previously put to such fine use in his mind erasing ensembles 5uu's and Thinking Plague) have been taken to their extreme end-game conclusion here as successive vistas of surrealist audio architecture unfold, implode and reconfigure, signaling your synapses to follow suit. All of the above functions as a sublime counterpoint to Cutler's exploratory texts about chaos theory, quantum physics, black holes, and the formation of galaxies.
Like sub-atomic particles whose appearance changes relative to the instruments used in their detection, A Mere Coincidence will register as many things to many people. To me it means bearing witness to artistic godhead. It also means I need to lie down.
(Originally published in Alternative Press issue #143, p.98; reprinted by permission)
For a group that has Fred Frith, Chris Cutler, and Thinking Plague's Bob Drake in the line up, expectations can be nothing else but high. It would be tempting to call A Mere Coincidence RIO music, but I am not that much reminded of the classic RIO bands except maybe occasionally of the Art Bears. However, there is certainly a link to the more recent wave of American, RIO-ish sounding bands such as Thinking Plague, U Totem, etc. Whether you call this album RIO or not is finally irrelevant, this is dazzlingly inventive "new music" (as Musea would classify it). The album seems to elude any accurate description, but I can hear flashes that recall the Residents ("Lab Notes"), Art Bears, Thinking Plague, and some accessible parts that sound to me like neo-psychedelic indie rock (for example on "...Schroedinger's Box" or halfway through "Event Horizon"). The beginning of the album has several more quiet, reflective passages which have a vague chamber prog atmosphere ("Engineering"), but especially on the second half of the CD there is great, intense interplay as well (for example "Napoleon"). The female vocalist, Amy Denio, is excellent. The lyrics by Chris Cutler are rather cryptic, but tracks like "...Schroedinger's Box," "Engineering," and "There Must Be Something" comment on (or refer to) science in the broadest sense, which probably somehow links the lyrics to the group name. A Mere Coincidence is a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of avant-garde rock music, without being too inaccessible. A classic!
