Society of the Silver Cross’ “Wife of the Sea”

The atmospherics powering Society of the Silver Cross’ “Wife of the Sea” are far from empty histrionics. The husband and wife team of Joe and Karyn-Gold Reineke pair with guest vocalist King Dude, the nom de plume for T.J. Cowgill, for a full-on minor masterpiece that invokes a swirl of images and emotions in a relatively tight frame. They accomplish this goal with a small battery of customary and arcane instruments ranging from straight-forward acoustic guitar to harmonium and the Swarmatron, an unique synthesizer requiring a car key to use. Cowgill’s contributions are crucial as well.

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No one will confuse him with Pavarotti. However, King Dude’s evocative singing more than compensates for the lack of range with dramatic powers of interpretation capable of transporting listeners into a twilight-lit world. He inhabits each line of the song with a complete investment of his imaginative skills, and particular lines scattered throughout the cut are prime examples of his interpretative gifts in full flight.

It isn’t hard to hear how the song’s musical backing can inspire him to such heights. “Wife of the Sea” is a richly textured listening experience that develops in an incremental way. The patient mood-setting of its opening minutes acts as a prelude for the later use of varied instrumentation without ever losing key characteristics of the song. Those latter qualities serve to ground the recording in a familiar sonic reality.

Another aspect of the recording that tethers it to the familiar is the vocals. Karyn-Gold Reineke shines, and is a perfect compliment to King Dude’s singing without ever obscuring his contributions. Her singing goes a long way towards enhancing the ghostly ambiance Society of the Silver Cross is clearly striving for from the outset. She doesn’t sing along with King Dude so much as counterpoint his vocals, and her instincts for when to make her presence felt are unerring.

Society of the Silver Cross has unerring instincts for song construction. It is easy, in some ways, for songs such as this to emerge when you helm a project with a clear creative vision. However, you can’t help but applaud the seamless evolution of this track as it moves from one passage to the next with a wonderful sense of inevitability. It is never outright predictable and, even when it is, Society of the Silver Cross executes those moments with a tremendous skill that makes them a joy to hear.

Joy may not be something you immediately associate with this track after hearing it. The doom-laden feel of “Wife of the Sea” never undercuts the imaginative elation audible throughout the performance. Society of the Silver Cross is clearly a project that revels in the act of creation, and you can hear that quality come through every second of the song. King Dude communicates that with a deeply involved vocal performance that grows on listeners with each added listen. It is a song well worth seeking out, and you can expect it will get under your skin.

Mindy McCall