The loose collaborative of musician friends led by singer/songwriter Phideaux Xavier has produced five albums (313 being the latest) of appealing psychedelic and folksy prog rock that fans of the Moody Blues, the Strawbs, Jethro Tull, David Bowie, The Cure, early Pink Floyd and Peter Gabriel just may find exhilarating. Of course, this fun bunch of people doesn't make mysterious yet melodic music — full of charm with titles like "A Storm of Cats," "Have You Hugged Your Robot?" and "Run Singing Tiger" — in an effort to make money and sell records. They claim on their label's web site that they do it "for the sheer love of it … so we can meet other musicians who like music that makes you think, and to network with friends, fans and colleagues." And you know what? I completely believe them.
Conceived as an "album-in-a-day" project back in early 2004, 313 eventually evolved into a yearlong project, and it's easy to hear the dedication to detail and the joy of playing in these 13 songs. Mellotron, vocoder, sitar, harpsichord, Moog and e-bow dance in and out of the tracks, many of which Phideaux admits in the colorfully busy liner notes were constructed using ProTools. That's OK, though, because it would probably be difficult to have this record make (at least some) sense without a bit of cutting and pasting. Good thing the listening part (save for a few sore-thumb ambient pieces near the end) isn't so tough…
Track Listing:
1) Railyard
2) Have You Hugged Your Robot?
3) A Storm of Cats
4) Never Gonna Go
5) Pyramid
6) There's Only One of You
7) Orangutan
8) Sick of Me
9) In Search of Bitter Ore
10) Body to Space
11) Watching Machine
12) Run Singing Tiger
13) Benediction
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