Secular Music Group – Volume 2

Secular Music Group returns to Love All Day with Volume Two, a long-playing and exceedingly strong follow-up which both condenses and expands the vision they began to lay out on last years acclaimed Volume One (recently reissued by Spanish label, 2 Headed Deer). Presenting a slightly rearranged cast of musicians, as guitarist Ted Morcaldi was unable to attend the sessions (but thankfully contributed a composition to the album), they were joined by multi-instrumentalist Will Berman (MGMT) stepping in as the fourth member of the ensemble, alongside Greg LaPine, Yannis Panos, and Chris Ruggiero. Recorded live to 4-track analog tape with exclusively 1970s-era technology over just three days in the studio, with a final track, “Lake-Sea”, laid down live at the beach near the home of member and lead audio-engineer, Ruggiero. You can hear the waves lapping at the shore in the background, the tidal motion of the water acting as the ‘conductor’ of the piece. The songs in general this time around are much more tightly structured, having somewhat abandoned the free-form minimalism of Volume One for a heavier emphasis on rhythm and melody. Piano is more foregrounded throughout, with a subtle and introspective sounding spiritual jazz element characterizing the horn arrangements. Still drawing influence from 1970s French and Italian library music, there’s also now a lilting and haunting folkloric quality that’s been introduced to the Secular Music Group sound world —the through line from the previous work being a highly intentional and thoughtfully interior approach to improvisation where the meticulous set-up of the studio and audio capture almost becomes a fifth member of the ensemble. As great as we find Volume One (and we find it very great indeed), by any measure Volume Two is a great leap, more immediate than its predecessor, more lived-in, the ideas more fully developed and flawlessly executed at every turn, where despite any 1970s touchstones and influences the end result feels both startlingly contemporary and timeless.