Mars Volta Day

• 21st Feb 2005

Its the much anticpated day of release for Mars Volta, album number two, called Frances The Mute. Having got it late I haven't had a chance to listen to it properly yet, but on first listen its going to take about twenty seven listens to do a review with any justice.

Concept album? Despite protestations against such labels from Rodriguez-Lopez; I think so. Glancing at the back cover the tracks are listed like a clasical composition with rondo features. hmmm.

The story behind the album is described less than succinctly by the band as,

“….inspired by a diary that Jeremy (Ward – RIP) found in the backseat of a car while working as a repo man. He discovered he had a lot in common with its author. He Kept it and let us in on it. The Diary told of the author being adopted and looking for his real parents. The Names of each song are named after people in the diary. Each person he meets sorts of points him in the direction of his biological parents.

“Every work of music or art is going to reflect your experiences and feelings at the time. This record was obviously influenced by the trauma of losing Jeremy. But Cedric consciously omitted anything with too much clarity or resolution.

“This could have been a much angrier record. When we made the last record, Julio (Venegas, band friend and mentor whose life and death inspired De-Loused) had already been dead for 10 years. These feelings and experiences were much more fresh. But we ddint want it to be that literal. And there are things about it we don't want to share, that would be to personal or redundant to even talk about.”

So in the time it has taken me to write this I have had a brief introduction to this long player – and its taken until about twenty five minutes into it before I recognised something resembling a song. More to follow.