Track Premiere: Titan to Tachyons – ‘Morphing Machineminds’

A band featuring current and former members of Orbweaver, Gigan, Secret Chiefs 3, Imperial Triumphant, Cleric and John Zorn promises to be weird and Titan to Tachyons does not disappoint. Led by guitarist Sally Gates (ex-Orbweaver, ex-Gigan), the trio blast through six minutes of off-kilter heaviness that is equal parts melodic and dissonant.

Take opening track “Morphing Machineminds” as an example—the track is all over the place with its ideas and tempo, but Titan to Tachyons never go off the rails. Gates takes us into her mind, and the core of the writing process, below, plus an exclusive stream of “Morphing Machineminds.” Titans to Tachyons’ debut, Cactides, is out on August 14 via Nefarious Industries.

“Titan to Tachyons began on a surf beach in New Zealand, with just a notebook book in my hands,” she explains. “I started formulating the idea for a new band as a vehicle to explore my own voice and tastes that were evolving; going forward with new concepts, but also circling further back into my roots, tapping into influences that I’d never expressed musically before.

“As a largely visually influenced person, I wanted to translate ideas of unsettling and seemingly abstract surrealities, particularly based on the likes of Lynch and Kubrick, into musical themes and textures. Sci-fi storylines were often used as a device to map out song structures and dynamics. (To further nerd out here, Dr Who, Red Dwarf, Phillip K Dick, etc). Morphing Machineminds in particular paints an image of Lynch-esque illusions of backwards movement, tied to the idea of a sentient machine malfunctioning and interspersing itself within smoother, almost comical passages.

“The writing process for this track traversed three cities in two different countries. After beginning in NZ, a lot of these parts were written during the tension and claustrophobia of awaiting hurricanes in Miami. Everything came together after relocating to New York, where I was extremely fortunate to join forces with Matt Hollenberg [bass; Cleric, John Zorn] and Kenny Grohowski [drums; Secret Chiefs 3, Imperial Triumphant]. The pair intuitively felt where I was coming from, and elevated the music by adding their own highly sophisticated and skilled voices to the mix.”

Photo: Karen Jerzyk