General Mojo’s at The Charleston in Bremerton. Photo by Stuart Whiting.
Narrated by Ted Miller
Music can evoke both nostalgia and novelty.
When I listen to General Mojo’s new concept album, The Flat Earth Project, it feels like I’m back in the ‘70s, lying on the floor wearing headphones with my eyes closed, getting lost in the sound and the lyrics. And with each listening, I discover new layers and hidden meanings.
Good music connects composer and listener with our common human experience, transcending time and distance.
In the summer of 2020, Dune Butler was one of millions of Americans outraged by the murder of George Floyd, who, like me, took to the streets to march for social justice. The movement was making a statement about the injustice in our society and how unfettered capitalism, police brutality, the rise of social media, and the growing impact of disinformation have harmed us all, particularly the lives of Black Americans. This is the experience that inspired Butler’s Flat Earth Project.
Butler explains that the concept album is a narrative of two lovers stuck in a loop of connection and isolation. This theme of cycles repeats throughout the album. How can we break out of a destructive cycle? How can we move beyond to better ourselves, to better the world? Are we doomed to repeat history, or can we choose to move on from a relationship that is eating itself?
All of the songs are written by Butler, but he collaborated with some of the best Seattle artists on several of the tracks. Self-described as psychedelic rock, I hear influences from the ‘70s through today. I sat down with my son Trey to listen to the album together. I wanted another perspective, and I knew he would hear things I might have missed.
Trey’s take:
It’s funky and sophisticated, lots of interwoven harmonies, really well-played instruments. Definitely has a retro feel and sound, but modern as well. Fairly eclectic. Sometimes it’s like disco, like in “When You Bring Your Love,” or more ‘70s rock like in “Pain of All the World.” “A Sine Wave on Your Tongue” even gets into a Fleet Foxes kind of sound.
I agree with Trey. We talked about the storyline and how it really works as a concept album.
The album opens with a commentary on capitalism in “Money Go Round,” but there is a promise that “Change Will Come,” which features a rap by Marshall Hugh of the Marshall Law Band, part of the protests at CHOP on Capitol Hill. The album then moves on to discuss hate and violence in “Pain of All the World.”
“Lady in the Crowd,” one of the tracks released early as a single, describes the death of a protester and how her life continues online through social media and the internet. Several of the tracks then explore the relationship between a pair of lovers, one with a broader awareness of the world and the other “Stuck in Their Ways.”
K. René Krein wrote and narrated a bridge piece of spoken word to bring the story back to the beginning. One of my favorite lines is: “A circle is a haunted shape, all margin, no center.” Will we be haunted by the loop we live in, or can we move out of the cycle to a better place for ourselves and our world? Krein says: “Now, everything is possible.”
All thirteen tracks work together to tell a thought-provoking story. Experience The Flat Earth Project for yourself when it is released on April 1.
For more about General Mojo’s and to order your own vinyl or digital download, visit generalmojos.com and follow them on Spotify and Bandcamp.
Trey and I can’t wait to see Butler and General Mojo’s in person again. We already have tickets for their show at the Emerald of Siam on April 26!
