Neo-progressive rocker Joe Bailey is back in full force with his latest Reficul Records release, Devil in the White City. Bailey continues a take-no-prisoners charge ahead with this self-produced and engineered concept album of eight songs, where he expands his musical horizons.
The opening choir/synth string passages of the instrumental title track provide a fascinating contrast to the full-throttled onslaught of the second song, “Origin.” Bailey handles all the instrumentation, propelling the song with aggressively picked bass and probing double drumming. Additionally, his multi-tracked and aggressive guitar playing compliments Bailey’s powerful vocals used to deliver his dark lyrics with authority:
“Kicking and screaming, autonomous beating,
Welcome, throw your hands in the air.
Drooling and crying, smiling yet dying,
Welcome, there’s a lifetime over there.
Innocent thoughts, innocent eyes,
Innocent hands,
But it only takes one wrong turn.”
“The Fruitful Dead,” with its driving piano passages and programmed percussion, slows things just a bit yet provides some of Joe Bailey’s best fretwork on the album. Musically pensive yet rhythmically driving, Bailey builds on the piano and guitar passages with a focused intent while underpenning his cryptic lyrics:
“Your emptiness fills these pockets of mine.
Your readiness is an unwilling sign.
Compendious and lost in time.
Red tape ’round my new design.
Sorry, it’s my education,
It is putrid and distasteful on the eyes.
Sorry for my delectation,
I can’t refuse these boundless visceral delights.”
“Doctor Death” by no means lightens the mood. The piano synth intro takes a page from prog songs of the ’80s. The choir-like backing vocals offer a fascinating contrast with the modern drum backing. Bailey throws in tricky time signature changes and keyboard touches, which effectively enhances the bleak lyrical contents:
“This is your final home,
The end of a broken road.
Discover my great facade,
The bliss in my own backyard.”
There clearly is a lot musically and lyrically happening, but it all melds together.
“Holmes Sweet Holmes” continues the compelling album dynamics with a Richard Wright-like piano intro and analog synth parts, before the full band effect kicks in. It’s at this point that I needed to remind myself that Joe Bailey played every instrument, as the playing and arranging are top-notch.
The dynamic time signature changes in “Holmes Sweet Holmes” only serve to build the tension. Lyrically, Bailey is more direct in sharing his urgency and pain, which is reinforced by the challenging guitar and keyboard passages. This song begs for repeated listening to unpack all the musical nuggets.
“Disappearing Today” invokes equally powerful visions with its lyrics (“gone are my guests, filed away, lost in the throes of time; brush all my debts and flames of the day, away with the tears of my crimes”) and epic instrumentation and arrangement. The finger-picked acoustic guitar and synth strings establish the setting. Bailey delivers his most urgent vocal, which is enhanced by choppy lead guitar and driving tom-tom work. Again, Joe Bailey pulls together powerful prog elements to create his vision. What results is an epic that conveys the frenzied decay mentioned in the song’s coda.
Devil in the White City concludes with “The Begging of the End.” Acoustic piano provides a pensive beginning to a track that builds on Bailey’s direct bass playing. The lyrics become darker, and the guitars more gnarly as Bailey builds suspense. Musically, the song is totally in keeping with the rest of the album, meeting the high standards of musicianship previously established. If you are expecting a positive lyrical turn on this denouement, however, there is no such turn:
“I was born with the Devil in me,
I was born with the Devil in me.
Nothing here for you to see,
I was born with the Devil in me.”
No, Devil in the White City is not easy-listening music, but it is compelling and finely crafted progressive rock.
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