"Martha's Wake creates the sensual soundscapes of your most twisted and cherished nightmares," so begins the band's bio from Kingdom Records. They really nailed it on the head with that statement, as is evident in the lead-off track, "Razor Blade Girl." Lori Penzien has switched from bgv's to lead vocals, and it adds much more of an ethereal feel to the band's sound. "'Fire' in Harlem" is the first of 5 instrumentals written by each band member individually, with the other "element" instrumentals interspersed throughout the album: ether, air, earth, and water. This unique approach fits the disc perfectly, with these interesting little excursions into the minds of each artist.
The up-tempo ballad, "Under My Skin," is drenched with emotion. Written by keyboardist / pianist J.W. Penzien, his wife Lori portrays the intense passion of this song with her picturesque voice. "How can a voice be picturesque," you ask? Listen to this song and you'll see what I mean. Actually, the whole album is full of these enormously heart-felt vocals. Some may even weep.
Next up is "Different," with its funky bass line and emotive breakdown mid-song. Oh, did I mention that Dave Beegle produced, engineered, and mixed this CD? Yes, the guitarist of prog-instrumental band Fourth Estate. Though Dave produced the band's last album as well, this one seems to find them more comfortable in their surroundings, albeit some very surreal, eclectic surroundings.
Something of note is the statement in the liner notes about the fact that the band is in no way involved in New Age ideology. This is most likely due to some of the artwork and track 11, "Solitary God," which says, "Eccentric circles 'round Jupiter's moons / As they dance the dance of sadness / Orbiting shadows in my room / Like the vines around the lattice" and "There's a solitary God / That watches me from beyond the Pleiades." But, as the liner note is intended to do, be assured that these folks don't worship the sun, stars, the moon, or any other planets. This song is very danceable, while still emitting much sentiment. You can almost see Lori dancing around a stage somewhere on a dark night with her arms outstretched looking heavenward singing this song.
My favorite of the instrumentals is "'Ether' Out of the Silent Planet." It is based around an acoustic guitar, with various odd noises / electric guitars in the not too distant, emotional background. The album ends with "Time," which is simply a clock ticking for 9 seconds interrupted only by the strike of "one." With all of these "elements" present and the closer "Time" (thus the title Time & Elements), one may wonder if this is a concept album. According to J.W., it's "somewhat" of a concept album, the string throughout being songs about "different things in their lives going on right now." Calling that a "concept" is an interesting concept in itself.
While 96's Coloring China has sort of an urgent, here-there-and-everywhere feel, Time & Elements seems to be much more focused, though still not easily pinned down. So, you may wonder, what will you hear if you buy this record? Is it progressive? Gothic? Folk? There is really only one word, and I've used it several times in this review: emotion.
