Track listing: Where Is The Light, The Town Where Time Stood Still, The Girl Who Rules The Sea, It's Time, I Can't Make Up My Mind, Trafalgar, The Boy Who Dreamed Of The Stars, I Can't Say No, The Lost Man, Mr Winton, The Long Road
Something as seemingly easy as assigning a generally accurate Genre to an Artist is not that easy when it comes to Sydney, Australia based Extra Time. Listening through their latest release Songs With Long Titles, it's all over the place. You can say "Rock" and it applies in a sort of Steely Dan / Pink Floyd manner. But this album is rooted in majestic jazz stylings with instrumentation and arrangement that lean in more of a classical motion picture soundtrack direction.
After a 4-year hiatus Extra Time spent 4 days at Damien Gerard Studios in Gosford, Australia recording and arranging. When things were ready, the group's lyricist, composer and singer Brendan McNamara brought in producer/engineer Andrew Beck and an all-star lineup of session musicians who spent the next 20 days bringing Songs With Long Titles to fruition.
A prison without walls
Has no doors
So how do I escape
The prison I create
A canvas without paint
Is a journey unexplored
So how do I break free
From the life I abhor
Twelve musicians in total contributed to the record, recording 100% au naturale. No studio tricks, autotune, etc. These songs are organic human creations.
The record takes us through a journey exploring themes of life and death, joy and delusion; a dreamy adventure told in a quasi-Floydian fashion. Again, yes, it's a rock album. But, yes, it's also a deep dive into jazz chords and progressions.
The album kicks off with "Where Is The Light." Hints of Chicago-meets-Bacharach jump out amidst the brass and soaring choral choruses; a little funk existing playfully with some smooth jazz.
The rest of the album is a delightful musical journey. Yes there are sounds reminiscent of things familiar but Songs With Long Titles is an entirely unique experience as a whole. You should start your trek with "Where Is the Light" but then do continue on with the rest of the record. Streaming links, more info and generally all things Extra Time can be found at: extratime.band.