maudlin of the Well (motW) are comprised of people who engage in deliberate astral projection. I don't know about you, but if I find out that musicians are into lucid dreaming and out-of-body experiences, my intrigue goes up. However, a psychedelic bent on music is a slippery slope, for it runs the risk of utter failure. Will the listener put up with someone else's crazy tale from another plane? Will the band be able to return from the other side in time to press 'record'? Do you want to hear a whole band's worth of triumphant psychedelic experiences?

If you consider that this 2009 incarnation of the band refuses to charge you for the experience, it's hard not to give it a try. After three albums between 1999 and 2003, maudlin of the Well disseminated into various musical satellites, most notably singer Toby Driver's Kayo Dot. Many musicians came and went, but for this new album all the original members assembled along with help from the Kayo Dot folks. This souped-up version of Maudlin Voltron is unique in that the album was completely funded by fans of the band. Money donated by loyal listeners was translated into studio time and new motW songs, released free to everyone. Philanthropy and rock and roll could stand to get together more often.

A lot of generosity went into this album's creation. What does it sound like? While previous motW albums were a lot more into the metal side of things, Part the Second features a mellower DMT-elves' worth of styles and directional shifts. The record starts out with a shiny-smooth guitar jiggling with a kraut-jam in 7/4 time. Boisterous strings and chimes dance all over this, and it begins to feel like a dreamy, summer romance with relentless momentum. Nothing can stop our love! And then motW stop, slowing it down to a one-thump beat, the organ frozen in time and a seldom lazy strum of that softly sparkling guitar. This first song was the one inside Driver's head for so long that led him to take on the project, and it really is the most complete of the bunch. Changes in time signature, moods and even decades, sometimes without warning, are to be found throughout the record, evoking a more relaxed version of Gong. Some of the most scintillating musical moments are performed by Kayo Dot's supreme violinist Mia Matsumiya, who plays with notably passionate conviction. motW's blend of classical, metal, psych, prog and anything in between is a wild ride, but there are make-or-break aspects to the band. There is singing.

It's not like Toby Driver can't sing either. His vocals shift like a chameleon between the charmed soothe-sayer throat pinch, the falsetto elf, a Pink Floyd-harmonied '70s voice, and a very confident croon bordering on Jeff Buckley. You are either going to hate them or they're going to be a part of the whole cosmic universe thing and you won't care. They do stick out, way up in the mix, sometimes to the detriment to the song's focus (which is hard to say with conviction since none of the songs really have a focus). These tracks are all about the journey, not where you're going. There is no big payoff at the end; there aren't really build-ups or reasons for doing anything. The song-writing is very loose, unpredictable. I love caprice-artists like Mr. Bungle and Secret Chiefs 3, but I think the difference between those groups and maudlin of the Well is intention.

I don't hear a lot of intention on this record. It can turn out gloriously and be wild and free, but here I feel like the band doesn't engage the listener. I hear a band that doesn't really care if the listener is there or not as they frolick amongst the cosmos, and we are totally free to hop on the ride and see what these people are doing. I do not hear an exchange. This makes my listening of the album a bit cold, even though maudlin of the Well are describing very warm places and experiences.Part the Second thus behaves as more of a monument to variety in modern musical styles, frenetically blending them wayward without consequence, like a god who does fantastic things without the regular consequences that befall all humans, rendering it less meaningful to us mortals. This album would totally slay live, but once committed to tape, it reminds me of someone describing a dream to me that I just can't care about.

-Nayt Keane