Sky Cries Mary Releases its 15th Album Sept. 29 at Lucky

If you’re eager to take the measure of this latest offering from Seattle-based psychedelic rockers Sky Cries Mary, go to the second song on side 1 of Everything Goes Somewhere, Deli Lotto ATM, a piece that mixes not only the band’s evolving sound, but also its continuing weaving of evocative real life imagery into a wandering dream-like mindscape.

DLA reveals Sky Cries’ sound circa 2023, one that maintains the band’s well-established psychedelic bonafides, while at the same time continuing to add in jazz and pop sensibilities along with an enhanced reliance on persistent, driving rhythm, consistent with the East Village landscape from the which the song arose.

The record will be issued during a release party on Sept. 29, 6 pm, at Lucky, 168 Ave B, which happens to be located just around the corner from DLA’s namesake, the E. 11th Street Deli, which is known locally as Deli, Lotto ATM for its signature signage, a conspicuous, decades-old, lighted sign that loudly advertises the enterprise’s three prominent offerings. Performing that night at Lucky is singer-songwriter Mollie King, who will be celebrating one of her birthdays.

Roderick Wolgamott, the long-time EV resident and Sky Cries frontman and songwriter, follows a familiar lyrical path, giving his words authority through authentic detail while mixing the mundane with the profound to deliver his essential message. In DLA, he literally walks along E. 11th while contemplating the depth of heartbreak and despair: “I pass a deli, a Lotto, an ATM, can’t believe I’ll never see you again,” he sings. He populates the song with darkly mundane images from the neighborhood, the failed fisherman along the East River, a homeless guy (actually Jonathan for those familiar with the nabe) who sleeps beneath a car, “an abandoned dog, riddled with fear, shunning the cold.”

But the song does more than showcase Wolgamott’s muscular songwriting, it also delivers the emphasized bass and drum presence that undergirds other songs on the record, whether it be the tribal-industrial rhythms on Don’t Shut the Door, the funk-infused Rhythm and Rhyme or poppy, graceful opener Orphan.

Electronic drums, layered with acoustic drumming, ambient sound, lyric poetry, soaring vocals, and soulful grooves combine to harken back to Sky Cries’ signature sound while at the same time opening the door to this new era of accessible, toney infectious new music. The record has founding members Wolgamott and Bennett Ireland and Roderick Wolgamott teaming up with Grammy winning producer, Jack Endino.

Record collectors and art aficionados will recognize and delight in cover art by Scottish painter Fergus Hall, whose work has also been featured on King Crimson albums.

Wolgomat will be on hand at Lucky to sign copies of the release. The party starts at 6 pm.