Melody Hath Wandered Off

Beginning as an amused inquiry and opening into one of the album’s more dynamically expansive performances, Melody Hath Wandered Off personifies melody as a once-reliable guide who has abandoned modern music. Seraphino’s complaint is not against experimentation, but against confident wandering mistaken for destination.

I first imagined Melody as a courteous lady who once led every song by the hand. She asked little: merely that a tune possess direction, memory, and some reason for arriving where it did. At some uncertain point the musicians declared themselves liberated from her guidance. Melody, being a lady of dignity, appears to have departed without argument.

The recording begins with conversational concern and gradually wideneth into a search. Its broader rises and retreats matter greatly; the song must itself demonstrate the pleasure of being led somewhere. By the final refrain, the missing lady hath become more than a jest. Melody is the path by which a listener returneth to a song after the instruments have fallen silent. Novelty may surprise, texture may impress, and rhythm may compel—but when all three have finished displaying themselves, someone must still remember the road home.