One old song, one new song and four covers comprise Secret Machines’ newest release, The Road Leads Where It’s Led. The follow-up to 2004’s Now Here is Nowhere, this recent EP release is – well not much of an evolution as it is a recapitulation. There is the abbreviated “Road Leads Where It’s Led,” from the Secret Machines’ first album. “Better Bring Your Friends” is a new track and it’s distinctively southern flare is perhaps a reflection of the band’s Texas roots.
Okay now on to the covers. The languid speed of the album is drawn out to a painfully slow crawl with “Money (That’s What I Want.” I think there were times when I forgot what was going on and what exactly I was listening to (it was seven minutes, okay?). Bob Dylan’s “Girl from the North Country” gets the same treatment, but is slightly more stomach-able even though it tops all the other covers at a whopping eight minutes and 59 seconds. The Secret Machines’ psychedelic treatment works well for Harmonia’s “(De Luxe) Immer Wieder” but all in all, this newest release works more like a time filler rather than a substantial follow-up.
Archived article by Tracy Zhang
Arts and Entertainment Editor