Mars Red Sky Post “Break Even” Video
As announced last week, Mars Red Sky‘s new album is called Dawn of the Dusk and it’s being released on Dec. 8 through Vicious Circle Records and Mrs Red Sound. I spent a goodly portion of September (and October so far) with it on repeat, so when the clip came out last Wednesday, I wanted to post it right away because I’ve been dying to talk about this record, the somewhat darker take in “Break Even” at the outset and how that comes to define the record through the diversion in “Maps of Inferno” from the Bordeaux trio’s earlier-’23 collaboration EP with Queen of the Meadow, aptly-titled Mars Red Sky & Queen of the Meadow (review here) and on from there into the heart of the band’s latest expression, built on their core approach of bringing together heavy, melodic, progressive psychedelia with memorable songwriting and identifiability of sound. That is, especially by this point, as they head to their fifth long-player and look to tour in Europe this Fall and probably next Spring (if they wait that long) ahead of traveling back to the US to tour to support it. They’ve already been announced for Ripplefest Texas 2024, and I doubt that will be the last. Recall they were on the American West Coast last year.
More even than 2019’s The Task Eternal (review here), and as four additional years — especially the last four — will, Dawn of the Dusk presents a more mature sound from Mars Red Sky, whose directional growth revealed itself on their second full-length, 2014’s Stranded in Arcadia (discussed here, review here) as the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Julien Pras, bassist/sometimes-vocalist Jimmy Kinast (he gets lead vox on “The Final Round,” which is track three after
“Break Even” and “Maps of Inferno”) and then-new drummer Mathieu “Matgaz” Gazeau set themselves forth after their 2011 self-titled debut (discussed here, review here) with an expansive take that has only continued to flourish through 2016’s Apex III (Praise for the Burning Soul) (review here) and the aforementioned 2019 outing. This should be seen as willful commitment to stylistic progression, because that’s what it is. Mars Red Sky have always been a band who have looked to push themselves toward new ideas and interpretations of what they do. “Break Even” boasts a familiar roll and breadth, and in the layering of the guitar, the somewhat downtrodden vocal delivery from Pras and the subtle angularity of its turns and the solo that complements its final lines, has a kind of urgency to it that seems to be mirrored in the lyrics.
To that end, the lyrics are here. I don’t always include them with videos unless specifically asked — and I wasn’t — but they’re relevant, and maybe you want to sing along. I do. I’m still getting to know the abiding mood of Dawn of the Dusk, but I’m also still getting to know their first record, so don’t go by me. I’ll have a full album review up at some point between now and Dec. 8 (he said with absolute confidence after being the better part of a week late posting the video; I’ve been annoyed at myself since about last Wednesday at 9AM Eastern), but I’ve heard it enough over the last few weeks to tell you with certainty that “Break Even” represents Dawn of the Dusk well and its accompanying video bolsters the atmosphere of the song itself, which of course is the idea, while mostly giving the track its own space.
Gonna stop myself here, but know that there’s more to say on this one and that I hope to sooner or later do at least some of that saying. With that warning in mind, I urge you to please enjoy the video below:
Mars Red Sky, “Break Even” official video
From MARS RED SKY’s new album ‘Dawn Of The Dusk’ – out December 8th 2023 on MRS Red Sound & Vicious Circle. https://idol-io.ffm.to/DawnoftheDusk
Video directed by Clara Griot.
Special thanks to Paul Roucher. Project supported by ADAMI.
Recorded and mixed by Benjamin Mandeau at Cryogene Studio, France, mastering by Ladislav Agabekov at Caduceus Studio in Gimel, Switzerland.
℗ & © 2023 Mrs Red Sound & Vicious Circle.
Lyrics :
For any sort of pain there’s a market and a remedy
Stocks bonds up & down the chain of custody
Keeper of the Flagstaff a sniper at the ready
Prone to snap hands clapping cracking codes & ribs
Fire up & down the rapids shoot the medecine
He’ll quit and join the race, the rank & file for normality
If you can make it there you’ll make it anywhere
Just what you’d be making exactly is anyone’s guess
Soon it’s the pat on the back
The ravings, the panic attacks
Fool it’s the common mistake
The fun and the fin in the lake
Soon it’s the cast of a die
The shrewdly slanted device
Thank the groom for a room so dank
Phantom-powered light bulbs flicker in a fish tank
Who’s that waiting on the other side of the receiving end
Cold-blooded doner with ghastly manners
I was leader of the aging pack when I found her
Sketch out etching replicate shiped out built-in operator
Soon it’s the pat on the back
The ravings, the panic attacks
Fool it’s the bid in the auction
Break even or break into heaven
A figure head of state a true visionary
Joins the rank & file for dependency
Investigating what lays back younder
What might come out of it I dare not wonder
Soon it’s the pat on the back
The ravings, the panic attacks
Fool it’s the common mistake
The fun and the fin in the lake
Soon it’s the cast of a die
The shrewdly slanted device
Fool it’s the bid in the auction
Break even or break into heaven
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Tags: Bordeaux, Dawn of the Dusk, France, Mars Red Sky, Mars Red Sky Dawn of the Dusk, Mrs Red Sound, Vicious Circle Records
