Society of the Silver Cross’s debut album 1 Verse is an epic musical journey crossing over to mystical landscapes and otherworldly terrains while playing with concepts of life and death, shadows and light and going beyond the veil. Songwriters Joe Reineke (The Meices, Alien Crime Syndicate) and life partner Karyn Gold-Reineke score lush, bombastic and ethereal layers of instrumentation and vocals with the intention of sparking an emotive inner-experience for the listener. Joe and Karyn’s travels to India, and resulting deeply devotional yogic path bears influence to their artistic expressions both musically and poetically with chant-like vocals at times, and recurring themes of seeking deeper spiritual truth and wisdom. Their unique songwriting style also blends east and west with gothic undertones. The album features eastern instruments (harmonium, shahi baaja, dilruba, ghungroo bells), 12-string guitar, esoteric synthesizers (swarmatron, therevox, mellotron), Hammond B3 organ, heavy rhythmic percussion and gritty soundscapes.
Equally intriguing is the band’s visually compelling imagery through light painting and wet plate (tintype) photography methods along with two accompanying music videos for single’s “When You’re Gone” and “The Mighty Factory of Death” – which both play more like short conceptual art films than traditional music videos. “We wanted everything to be a work of art, every sound, every image.” says Reineke. The album was engineered and produced by Joe Reineke with Karyn Gold-Reineke at Orbit Audio (famed studio owned by Joe and Karyn) in Seattle, WA.
“After traveling to India several years ago, we found a deep calling to the yogic path. Our practice has infused our lives and naturally our music with positive energy and creative inspiration to blend our familiar western rock and gothic roots with the textures of the east. The original Society of the Silver Cross were Dutch medics for the 17th century army, much like the Red Cross. We think of this music as medicine on the battlefield of today’s chaotic world. Our intention is that it be an experience, a musical movement of authenticity, inspiration, and awakening a sense of one’s true self and purpose.”
Glide is proud to premiere the official video for “Take A Ride” that was made with the real vinyl – a toy VW van record player and a hypnotic spinning and dissolving effect. Society of the Silver Cross displays a black soul and urgent fuzz reminiscent dark alt-rock flair of The Afghan Whigs and The Jesus and Mary Chain.
