The name of the group whose CD that I hold in my hands is A Crack in Time and The Break of Dawn.  With a name like that, I can only expect a truly psychedelic offering.  This album better blow my mind and make my ears melt off of my head.  The name of this album is Remedy, so let’s hope this medicine does the trick!

Its time to burn some incense, turn on the lava lamp and hit the switch on the black light. Let’s see exactly what we have here. The first song starts with a steady drum beat and a bluesy psychedelic guitar riff that is soaked in reverb and just the right amount of delay.  Along creeps in a baseline and the first line of vocals hits, “I’ve made up my mind…”  This is a dark psychedelic trip all ready, and I am starting to love it.  The song just hangs in midair and floats while the vocals coast on the rhythm. The guitar slowly breaks apart to float away and Take lead of the song for a moment than retreats, only to come back later and reclaim the rhythm. This happens many times during this epic twenty minute long opening track. A bold move to put a twenty minute piece as the first track to your album, but it worked well and i’m ready to hear more.  There are a few moments of silence and the second track becomes audible with what sounds like an accordion or possibly a piano horn and hints of bass guitar, finely placed in the cracks between the other instrument.  We next hear some vocals, heavily delayed and totally tripped out.  These vocals rise and fall, gaining momentum and then dropping again, only to have their echo carry on in the distance. After we hit the seven minute mark, some drums kick in and some slight guitar experimentation. The song jams on for another twenty minutes or so changing colors like a chameleon and getting brave with experimentation but never losing its groove.  Never becoming even slightly unlistenable (which is grounds that many experimental albums tend to wander into).  The second track leads straight into the third track, so initially this is still the same song, even though the rhythm has totally changed yet again.  This time the rhythm holds down a more primitive beat that keeps building and building. Some juicy guitar licks accent this song while primal vocals are layered on top of each other.  Over and over, this song is now spinning out of control and cymbals are smashing and toms are beating and high hats are bleeding and harmonica is screaming, until… silence.  We fade out with only the ghosts of the previous jam and they are slowly fading away into memory.

Remedy is just that. Overall, a very impressive album that mixes multiple genres into some slight experimentation to create a totally new world for the listener.  A total head trip.  This has been a great escape but now its time to get back to reality.

Naaahhh, I think Ill listen again!

Review by Kenn Deaton

Kenn Deaton, Reviews A Crack in Time and the Break of Dawn, Remedy

A Crack in Time and the Break of Dawn.  That’s a rather romantic and intriguing name for a band.  The name alludes to mysterious and mystical melodies and vibrant, colorful soundscapes.  The band states on the back cover of the CD that this is “a musical and artistic expedition reaching out for the ever-present, everlasting Now.”

In keeping with this philosophy, A Crack in Time and the Break of Dawn begins their three-song album Remedy with an 18-minute track that is the equivalent of entering an altered state of consciousness.  The longer one listens to it, the deeper one gets taken.  The first track begins with a surfer-esque guitar riff that sets the tone for the surreal and spontaneous jam session that is about to commence.  The track is long, occasionally monotonous, and the singer’s voice leaves something to be desired as he is frequently off-key and sometimes sounds shrill.  These issues aside, the instrumentation is well done and the overall vibe of the first track is one of spectral elegance.

Track two is slow to begin and one may wonder if it will ever start.  There is nearly 4 minutes of not much of anything happening and the listener may become restless while waiting for this track to get underway.  Close to the four-minute mark the song picks up, such as it is, with some vocalization that one is hesitant to call lyrics.  They are not words, per se, at least in the usual sense, and the vocalization is mediocre at best.  Again the singer seems to be performing in his own key and his voice cracks and peters out at unexpected moments.  This 24-minute piece is rife with reverb and has a bit of a schizophrenic and otherworldly sensation to it that is not exactly comforting or harmonious.

However, there is also a rather addictive quality to this song.  It is impossible to stop listening and the guitar work is slightly reminiscent of the guitar work in Roger Waters’ song “Amused to Death.”  The drummer appears to be going through a test of endurance as the song marches forth and he tirelessly keeps the rhythm.  The basis of a jam session is to play and record in the now, and A Crack in Time and the Break of Dawn is doing precisely that.  The chaotic feel to track two and the seemingly inconsistent patterns is the result of this.  While it may not be the most pleasing or harmonious music, the listener must respect the fact that the music is improvised and spontaneous and this adds to the charm and mystery of it.

The final track is a whole different experience from the preceding two tracks.  There is a tribal essence to this piece that is savage and melodic at the same time.  The rhythm tends to emulate the sound of a train, especially as the song picks up speed.  While listening to this, one may get the vision of people dancing a secret dance, a ritualistic rite of passage that not many understand.  The closing track is by far the most intricate and pleasing of all the tracks, and at roughly 9 minutes, it’s unfortunately the shortest.  The build-up is fantastic and the climatic peak is orgasmic.  While listening to the final song, one now gets a much better understanding of the talent that this band possesses and a clearer grasp of what improvisational music is all about.

After listening to Remedy through once, the listener may be a bit confused and may sit silently pondering what has just been heard, not quite understanding the concept of what A Crack in Time and the Break of Dawn is trying to accomplish.  A second listen-through better solidifies the artistic experience of this album and the listener may now be more open to the unique and original way that this collective perceives music.  By the time the listener gives it a third go around, all bets are off and the music itself has become oddly addictive.  The sheer idea of improvisational music is unique and rarely done, most especially the way A Crack in Time and the Break of Dawn does it.  The music itself may not be all that fantastic, but the idea behind the music is mind blowing.  It may take people a minute to fully grasp it, but once it clicks, there is no turning back.

Review by Rhonda Readence

Reviews, Rhonda Readence A Crack in Time and the Break of Dawn, Remedy

On the back cover of Remedy, the first CD in the series of discs that have been planned for the musical collective known as A Crack in Time and the Break of Dawn, there is a question that the band wants you to consider. To condense and paraphrase the question, they ask: If you take away the conscious past and the conscious future, what will be left? “The ever-present Now”. It is in “the ever-present Now” where A Crack in Time and the Break of Dawn exists.

This collective of rotating musicians under the guidance of Helge Corneliussen creates their music to be experienced as it happens and once it ends, the collective moves on to the next musical setting. Born from a 48-hour long improvisational festival in Norway, the group of musicians have gathered together from time to time to create music on the spot and record the results to release later. The resulting recordings have been produced to create totally unique CDs of music. The band recently put out the initial album entitled Remedy.

Checking out the packaging of the collective’s debut, there is an absolute lack of information: Whether the collective considers itself one entity so that no one person should be singled out, or if there was a lack of accounting for which member was on stage at what point, no musician is given credit for playing on the release.

On a related subject, A Crack in Time and the Break of Dawn also decided to be very non-decisive about naming their musical creations: No song is actually given a title, they are simply known by the number of the track they end up being in the tracking of each disc. As Remedy has three tracks, the songs are Track 01, Track 02, and Track 03.

Since the recordings of songs by A Crack in Time and the Break of Dawn will ultimately end up being released over the course of five CDs, perhaps the collective decided to start the series off with the songs that were deliberately light and slow; at least, that’s the way it comes across listening.

With the three songs that make up Remedy, the chosen music is quite laid back and over-simplistic. When the collective makes the claim that they have a rock style to their songs, these songs are very experimental with a lot of avante garde feel to them. One might ask where the rock influence is.

Each selection on the album encompasses the entire length of the improvisation. Had the group decided to allow the songs to be played out and then gone back and edited them to a stronger section of the piece to begin the composition, that would have made the release more interesting. Tighter production should have been considered.

Although stronger songs could have been chosen, the songs that are present on the album are very indicative of improvisation. The easy-going nature of the music tells you that the musicians let the music take them wherever they would eventually end up. It takes talent to completely improvise music on stage and the musicians who make up A Crack in Time and the Break of Dawn do not disappoint musically. Now, if only the song selections can be stronger for the rest of the upcoming releases, the musical collective can make a name for itself.

Review by Matheson Kamin

Matheson Kamin, Reviews A Crack in Time and the Break of Dawn, Remedy