Call it synchronicity, call it happenstance, call it no more than
three friends getting together to give their speakers a workout.
Yet The Utopia Strong’s formidable conflagration of
psychedelic radiance and beatific harmony has evolved way
beyond all or any expectations since the band’s inception..
‘International Treasure’ chronicles the collaborative collision
of Steve Davis, Kavus Torabi and Mike York heading into
unchartered psychic territory, seemingly with nothing but their
instincts as co-ordinates.
What’s resulted is a step beyond anything either band or
audience might have expected - a deeply rewarding voyage
into inner space which moves into darker and still more
evocative sound-worlds whilst remaining fundamentally off
the map. Influences know no bounds in this context, and the
listener would be forgiven for locating the atmospheres and
soundscapes of this album on some sonic promontory above
and between the potent abstractions of Tim Hecker, the
improvisatory excursions of The Necks, and the gothic allure
of Bohren Und Der Club Of Gore.
‘International Treasure’’ is the next chapter in a story which
only grows more rewarding with every stop along the way -
one in which three heads travel together deeper into their own
musical journeys, and the resulting alchemical power
transmutes its origins into gold. As no less a sage than
Andrew Weatherall proclaimed, The Utopia Strong are
“gnostic sonics in a nutshell”.
