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album review:
Our leaders tell
us the world is a dangerous, violent place. The
television warns us that armies of our enemies amass
to challenge our freedom. From nearly every corner
the message is one of fear and horror, telling us to
be afraid, always frightened. Now, more than ever we
need Future Music! Over the 11 tracks on
Beyond the Infinite, their thirteenth album, FM
architect Robert Barsky (lyrics, vocals, guitar,
e-drums) and ace axe-man Rich Arbaugh (guitar, bass,
harmony vocals) offer a much-needed infusion of hope
and love, reminding us that the world offers an
infinite number of possibilities.
Opening with
Finger Painting, Future Music
channels late 1960s Kinks with a hot guitar lick and
lyrics steeped in optimism, pointing out that the
key to overcoming darkness resides within us. We
only need to look for it. The positive vibrations
flow free and fast over this entire album and the
exhortations of love abound. The superlative
Grey to Colour (which features a goose-bump
inducing intonation of the phrase “rock & roll,”
giving what some consider a cliché new vitality),
shows the power of love to change everything for the
better. On the near-giddy-with-happiness Cycle of
Emotion the singer identifies the source of his
purpose simply as “looking for a little love, find
it every time we touch.”
Even when
addressing the complexity of modern life, Barsky’s
words never fall prey to pessimism. On Schematism,
a Lennonesque musing on the human condition driven
by a smoking slow-burn guitar part, we are reminded
that no matter how evil the machinations our leaders
employ or how bad things may appear “everything
returns to balance, everything returns home.”
The madness and distraction that is the modern media
is the subject of Tall Poppy Syndrome, in
which we are chided, gently, about our fondness for
watching others fall. FM reminds us that “It’s the
tall poppy syndrome, it’s been around since day one.
Says something about our mind set, and how we allow
it.”
The two brightest
jewels among the finery of this album greet the
listener as the album’s final tracks. Reject
Nothing acknowledges that in a time were
“everybody’s known despair, known emptiness” we are
all looking for answers to escaping the downward
cycle and the key is not to limit where we look for
answers. We need to look inside and find the hope
that is within each of us. FM entreats that we look
for that hope, for “Hope creates a light that can be
seen, reject nothing, open possibilities.”
Avoiding the Void is a smoldering rocker that only sounds better the louder it is played.
Over Arbaugh’s driving guitar Barsky warns what
awaits those who buy into the easy answer,
instant-gratification promises of those who polarize
our society. Our leaders offer specious promises
that once you accept “you’ll be negated, cancelled,
annulled, invalidated, lured into a realm beyond the
mind.” What can one do? Follow FM’s example by
avoiding the void and not buy into the negative
outlook so pervasive today. Let’s look for
alternatives, look for hope and love to help get
over this hump and climb out of the darkness and
back into the light. The soundtrack for the journey
is right here and will help us go Beyond the
Infinite.
Robert Grover, 11/11/07 |
