PREMIERE | Immaterial Possession, 'Mercy Of the Crane Folk'

Entering the portal of the unknown with Immaterial Possession; photographed by Ben Rouse.

Take a moment out of your day, or evening if you will, to visit another land. A place that exists somewhere in the imagination at the command of the spirit from within. Imagine a whole other parallel society, a world of floral pastures, archaic histories and plenty of stories and songs. All of this and more can be found in the following debut of the second album from Immaterial Possession titled Mercy Of the Crane Folk. The Athens, GA band of Cooper Holmes, Madeline Polites, John Spiegel, Jon Vogt and Kiran Fernandes (of Elephant 6 lore) traverse dimensions of the unknown. The visionary group conjure together worlds that abide by their own senses of time, style and mysticism that invites all to join in the festivities of their jubilant and mysterious rituals.

Mercy Of the Crane Folk begins with the psych circus tent spectacular of "Chain Breaker", as the title track is a gathering call reminiscent of a lysergic springtime Fairport Convention renaissance. Travels and preparations for a holiday feast are the order of "To The Fete", arriving at the sinewy invitational of "Medieval Jig" that feels like stumbling into a clandestine palatial pagan event of chants, spells and an array of esoteric alchemy. "Siren's Tunnel" speeds through the labyrinth crypt of underground catacombs in pursuit of a vague mystery, as "Current in the Room" searches the spaces for an apparition to make itself material and seen beyond the shroud of its invisible cloak.

Immerse thyself in the antiquities and arcane orders of "Ancient Mouth", before taking a psychotropic walk through the valleys of prayers and meditations to the universe on "Cypress Receiver". The epic and tense instrumental "Birth of Queen Croaker" witnesses the dawning of an amphibian matriarchy, concluding with the elusive mystique of "Red Curtain". The album's finale carries forth the permeating motif of transportive dimension thresholds, leaving behind the convention and autotomized and AI governed material world for places that are surreal, scary and perhaps utterly fantastic. Mercy Of the Crane Folk resurrects the modern rock opera, a bewildering utopia where holistic trad tropes are married with cult 60s psych album pop orchestrations. Immaterial Possession present a long player of timeless epic poems that documents conceptions and receptions set somewhere in the constellations of the astral plane.

Manifesting new realities in the material world with Immaterial Possession; photographed by Ben Rouse.

Immaterial Possession provided some behind the scenes anecdotes on the making of their new album:

Mercy of the Crane Folk was mostly recorded last summer in Athens, Georgia. This album reflects a slightly more upbeat turn that we’ve taken as a band, as our live set has as well. Some of these songs have been stewing with us a good while, such as “Red Curtain” and “Ancient Mouth” whereas “Birth of Queen Croaker” was recorded improvised on the spot in the middle of a short Florida tour at Pulp Arts. Perhaps you can sense the Floridian-influence.

Across the fields and plains with Immaterial Possession; photographed by Carolyn Schew.

“Chain Breaker” was actually written as an intro song for the character Hairstresser at a women’s art-wrestling match that we live scored—it was one of many we wrote but was the one that stuck with us. "Sirens Tunnel" is a song born out of a improvisational jam captured on voice memo. We ended up wanting to keep it loose as a way to preserve some of that spirit on the album, as a natural juxtaposition to the more composed tracks.

Immaterial Possession's Mercy Of The Crane Folk will be available May 5 via Fire Records.