.jpg)
As bassist Blake Dean remarks “This is our Empire Strikes Back, 6’ o'clock - The Underworld.” The album moves in a serpent-like manner; it gleefully sheds its skin to reveal new identities and movements for the audience to gaze at in a hypnotized stupor. With incredible highlights and dynamics ranging from monster fuzz jams to orchestra ballads, Act II loudly kicks the door back open, and highlights the group’s knack for heady studio wizardry, compelling sonic dynamics, and an all-encompassing narrative vision. “Act II is a rollercoaster ride through heaven and hell,” says Mrs. Henry’s Dan Cervantes, and centers itself around the transformation of character, while embracing the rules of reality.
Act II picks up where Act I ends: the titular hero of the story Mrs. Henry has crossed the threshold of The Sex Sells, Love Drugs, Rock N Roll Society and is born again in The Land of Nothing Matters. Traversing the powers of Faith, Fate, and Hope, Mrs. Henry and Act II present a staggering album rich with equal measure of suspense and humor, and an enticing rabbit hole for listeners to wholeheartedly leap into and get lost within. The music and the lyrics don’t waste time in taking you into the hallucinations, the fantasies, and the psychedelic state of The Land of Nothing Matters. The militant march of in the crescendo-ing intro song “Delivery Room of the Morning Sun” bubbles and boils before reveling in the frenzied garage-rock/psychedelic fervor of “Here I Am.” A haunting voice beckons for Mrs. Henry to rise, who returns the request with a bone-chilling primal scream, a declaration of existence. “Here I Am” growls our protagonist, accepting the call before hurling into the unknown.
“Musically, we are exploring orchestral and operatic themes that really start to take shape. We used the studio to the fullest on these songs - layering parts in brass, strings, woodwinds, vibes and percussion using a Mellotron,” says Cervantes. “The goal of this album was to make something that was purely Mrs. Henry. No guest performers, everything is us.”
Act II picks up where Act I ends: the titular hero of the story Mrs. Henry has crossed the threshold of The Sex Sells, Love Drugs, Rock N Roll Society and is born again in The Land of Nothing Matters. Traversing the powers of Faith, Fate, and Hope, Mrs. Henry and Act II present a staggering album rich with equal measure of suspense and humor, and an enticing rabbit hole for listeners to wholeheartedly leap into and get lost within. The music and the lyrics don’t waste time in taking you into the hallucinations, the fantasies, and the psychedelic state of The Land of Nothing Matters. The militant march of in the crescendo-ing intro song “Delivery Room of the Morning Sun” bubbles and boils before reveling in the frenzied garage-rock/psychedelic fervor of “Here I Am.” A haunting voice beckons for Mrs. Henry to rise, who returns the request with a bone-chilling primal scream, a declaration of existence. “Here I Am” growls our protagonist, accepting the call before hurling into the unknown.
“Musically, we are exploring orchestral and operatic themes that really start to take shape. We used the studio to the fullest on these songs - layering parts in brass, strings, woodwinds, vibes and percussion using a Mellotron,” says Cervantes. “The goal of this album was to make something that was purely Mrs. Henry. No guest performers, everything is us.”
