Sendelica: Man, Myth & Magic

Sendelica have released a lot of music since they debuted (I believe) in 2006 and I do mean a lot. By a lot I mean a quite gargantuan amount and maybe even more than that. The biggest surprise therefore is that this mega mighty double vinyl album (received as one promo CD with nary a second left to squeeze on it) is my first encounter with this Welsh four-piece and yet, having lived with Man, Myth & Magic, it’s maybe not quite the shock I first thought.

Deeply ensconced in the psych world and space rock universe, the band’s 22nd album contains only four tracks - one per vinyl side - with this being the third instalment of a quartet of albums examining man’s relationship with religion, magic, myths, himself and the planet, although in fully instrumental form. Now, while there is a concept in play, in truth it’s not an element that I could decipher across what are four sprawling pieces where singular ideas are picked out, embellished and then spread to lengths of anywhere from 16 minutes to 21. I’m no hater of an epic, but epics, to me anyway, need to have many steps, stages and ideas to gain and then hold the attention, whereas when “Magician’s Dawn� begins to descend into repeated bass lines, fuzzy noises and an occasional guitar echo, it all feels just a little too unstructured and, if I was to be unkind, as though the intention was to fill out the side of an album rather than to truly take the song to its natural conclusion.

It’s an issue I found with all four of the tracks here, all of them starting out with some quite wonderful ideas, whether that be a driving beat, clever spiralling riff, or excellent instrumental interplay. However, then just repeating those motifs over and over - admittedly under a series of differing guises - leaves me wondering what I need to buy from the shop, rather than questioning man’s relationship with God.

As ever, however, I’ll add a caveat or two. Firstly, this kind of repetitive structure is a real bugbear of mine, whether that be in this setting or say that of industrialists Ministry, or even the debut Spice Girls single (go listen to that monotonous melody line…). If you have much more patience, or indeed love, for that particular approach then you’ll immediately get much more from this than I. The second caveat is that I don’t ‘expand’ my mind and I’d guess that this music could well be a different, ahh…, trip if that’s your thing.

Man, Myth & Magic isn’t bad, it just isn’t for me.

Track Listing
1. When Of Fortune
2. Neptune (The Hanged Man)
3. Magician Dawn
4. Tower Of Chaos

Added: May 31st 2024
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Sendelica @ bandcamp
Hits: 339
Language: english

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