An album cover with a budda on it is something that definitely gets my attention. But look a little closer and Budda is not in a good place.
So, the first goal of the artist – to get people’s attention and interest – worked. Compelling art can do that. But what about what’s inside? What does it sound like?
Well, the folks in the cafe agree – Steve Katsikas‘ debut solo effort, Hidden Village, is well worth 40-45 minutes of your time. This is especially true if you like indie rock songs with plenty of melancholy, creativity, and experimentation, featuring lyrics of love and loss and of political and societal consciousness.
Katsikas has cut his teeth as the vocalist and frontman of the Louisville, Kentucky prog-rock band Little Atlas.
Now, his 11-track is building organic support online, including on his Bandcamp page.
The album opens with the dreamy guitar strings and piano keys of “America” which grows in intensity, energy, and sound. Thematically, the song is “an extended observation of our political bickering, failure to listen to each other, and tendency to disregard the experiences of others,” Katsikas says.
“It’s a slow grower and becomes more and more intense as it progresses,” he says, adding: “I’ve created an accompanying video to go with it that I think sums up the main points.”
The emotional aspects of the gloomy “Life is a Movie” are intricately arranged. The sonic effect is achieved with an elaborate rhythm and melody, together with an expressive vocal, and soft guitar tones.
The song addresses, with some irony and cynicism, the concept that the human race has been blindly allowing the world to destruct by disassociating itself from the difficult reality.
“The song deals with the way that we manage the incomprehensible as if it were a movie,” he remarks. “Climate change? Endless War? Racial strife? It is so hard to think about these devastating occurrences that we watch and think about them as if they were happening to ‘some character, far away’, and that we are simply observers.”
“Psychologists call that ‘psychological distancing,'” he adds, “but that would have been a terrible lyric.” He has a really good point there about the disassociation and distancing. It’s perhaps how many people – who understandably feel helpless other than what they can do in their daily lives – react to these overwhelmingly pressing and dire global issues.
A tribal-like drum beat opens up the intricate, nearly eight-minute track “Solitary.” The beat snakes and interplays with dark guitar melodies and rhythmic bass lines.
As the song evolves, violin strings and Katsikas’ unique vocals build into complex instrumentations that add the overall allure of a hauntingly gorgeous song.
The poetic and dreamy acoustic number, “Authors and Architects,” is the shortest song on the album, and one of the best too. In fact, the listener wanted it to last longer. Together with the vocals, violin, and piano, a pleasant atmosphere is created. Katsikas is already showing his diverse musical interests and sensitivities.
Next, violin strings and keys meld and produce a sleepy atmospheric on “Sleep for Longer Days.” As the song ebbs and flows, the mood changes and becomes darker, floating on complex bass lines and choral-like vocals.
By this point in the album, Katsikas really lets his experimental instincts go. The jazz-influenced song, “Fall,” sounds like a track sort of from another era, emitting jamming piano keys and melodies with wavering vocal registers and strong bass beats.
“Fall” seems to flow into “Shoulders,” yet another song with an airy, jazzy vibe; a stripped down, folk-pop guitar song that creates an ethereal vibe.
This compelling album closes with soulful styled “The Clock Restarts.” The beat made out of a clock ticking sound is a cool effect. Katsikas also does decent covers of the Beatles’ “Across The Universe” and Pink Floyd’s “Gunner’s Dream.”
Hidden Village is an album that was nearly a decade in the making. The title, Katsikas adds, is a reference to the huge group, or ‘village’, of friends and musicians who contributed to the recording; a “journey that has taken me from city to city, genre to genre, band to band, and life event to life event.”
The making of the album was difficult to complete, he says, because of the tragic loss of his friend and ‘musical brother’, guitarist Roy Strattman “whose amazing guitar work flows across this album,” Katsikas adds.
“It remains a hard thing to hear his passion-infused tracks frame and support the songs, but it also is a way to spend time with him and honor his musical gifts. Grief is mixed with love and gratitude.” The album, Katsikas makes sure to say, is dedicated in loving memory of Strattman, his music and his life.
My Little Atlas family, Rik Bigai, Mark Whobrey, and Diego Pocovi are also interwoven throughout many of the songs presented in this album. There are many other professional musicians who contributed to the album – too many to list.
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