Gurus
Before Gurus play at Baby’s All Right tomorrow, October 8; Michael Friedrich presents a listen to the grandiose & unreleased single “The Great Reality I”. Leftover from the sessions for their recent album Unconditional Surrender, the single illustrates the group playing their best & biggest synths yet on a track that is sans percussion. The keys here are the core of the track while harmonizes and hosts of other elemental additions become something of a ritual & rite like a pagan mass gathering that welcomes the autumnal season.
The outtake “The Great Reality I” is all lead by big keys that shine a forward light on the song’s own arranged path of progressions. Gurus can be heard like a group that gradually files into the cathedral of their own creation like a choir/orchestra taking their pre-ordained places. Friedrich’s vocals stand center stage in the group’s collective harmonies where he takes on the role of a cult leader/faith healer/tent revival impresario where the church organ is substituted by digital heroic synths.
Gurus’ Michael Friedrich provided us with the following exclusive reflections on the making of the song:
Gurus wrote most of the songs for Unconditional Surrender at a certain dark and urgent pitch. “The Great Reality I” is a departure—major key, drum-free, and driven almost entirely by big synths. I thought we’d channel the great solemn chanters of the 70s and 80s: John Cale, Brian Eno, Robert Wyatt. An unconscious but undeniable echo of Enya’s “Orinoco Flow” wandered into the mix, as well. In the end, the song was such a departure that it didn’t make the album.
Which is too bad, because it’s an important part of the story. “The Great Reality,” as I imagine it, is one way to talk about collective consciousness—something big and cosmic that connects us way below the level of ego. How often do I believe in that? I don’t know for sure, but it helps me when I do.
Catch Gurus playing in Brooklyn Saturday, October 8 at Baby’s All Right with Aloha, tickets & info available here.
