Seattle’s Society of the Silver Cross sets sail with Festival of Invocations, a mystic mélange by Joe Reineke and Karyn Gold-Reineke. Their music meanders through murky realms, where life and death, beauty and darkness, waltz in wicked waltz. With each eerie echo and haunting harmony, they pierce the mundane, tugging at the twilight threads between worlds. This release beckons listeners into a trance, urging introspection and exploration with its powerful pull.Festival of Invocations, born in the bleakness of Covid, led Joe and Karyn to hope through haunting harmonies. In their Temple of the Trees—a studio resembling a gothic cathedral from another dimension—they meticulously produced the album. Each track was sonically sculpted within this sacred space, designed for this release and their future works. They painted sounds across a grim landscape, layering witchy undertones into their music. The compositions evoke an eerie urgency, as if plucked from The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Each note pulls us into a labyrinth of shadows and light, where the dark and divine dance in spectral splendour.
Their songwriting style merges lush layers of instrumentation with immersive rhythms and chant-like vocals, drawing from the rich textures and tones of India. The ensemble includes 12-string guitar, harmonium, Hammond B3 organ, shahi baaja, rare synthesizers, and drums. The result is a hypnotic blend of melodies, dark undertones, and twisted Americana. With a mix of Eastern mysticism and Western charm, their music conjures a world where shadows dance with light, serenading the soul in harmonic reveries.
Circle Cast Around, mixed by John Fryer (This Mortal Coil), honours the sacred circle—a timeless symbol of unity without beginning or end. Magic and rituals flourish within the circle, where ethereal forces are harnessed: North/Earth, East/Air, South/Fire, West/Water. Guest musician Mike Squires (Peter Hook) lent his expertise, layering a distinctive bass line that cycles throughout. The album’s ethereal echoes and elemental energies dance in a mystical, melodic embrace,
“We selected Circle Cast Around as the opening track…to serve as an invitation to step inside the round for a mystical, immersive journey with us,” says Reineke. “The song emerged from Karyn’s haunting riff on the shahi baaja (an Indian instrument which we fondly call “the baaj”). The idea had been saved as a simple iphone recording a couple years earlier, before it was rediscovered again, and we felt inspired to begin working out an arrangement.”
Setting forth on a journey of release, The Crown delves into the crucible of transformation. Traversing bleak, barren landscapes, it reaches a profound surrender—a sacred rite where earthly burdens are cast into the purifying fire. The song starts with a dissonant yet hypnotic guitar pattern over the heavy drone of the harmonium. Mid-song, the drums strike a military march, while the harmonium and guitar trade roles, symbolizing the transformative nature of life’s experiences.
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