The Mask Of The Phantasm and the devastating beauty of "Final Night At The Duplex"

Originally published at American Pancake:

I first heard "Final Night At The Duplex" by The Mask Of The Phantasm, the new musical moniker of Austin based guitarist and songwriter Omar Ghaznavi, several weeks ago and was quite taken aback. There is such a hard driving sadness and longing in the sonic textures bathed not in post rock shapes or post punk darkness or just jazz rock permutations or experimental extensions or progressive pop ascensions or falls but, instead, something hybrid that is all of those artful expressions together in concert. When I found out that this track exists on Omar's highly tuned band's debut album, "New Axial Age", a collection of music created as a blistering, elegant, cathartic outpouring, exorcism informed by the senseless cold blooded murder of his father during an attempted robbery in Houston, Texas in July of 2011, it turned my stomach inside out. Often times, the music, songs I gravitate towards as a listener and as a sometimes songwriter contain hidden, vague bits of poetry. I think creating art as something surreal or as an expression of many things coalesced or distilled into words and sounds that no one has to know or realize what the resulting art is based on is easier for the artist to deal with. Secrets to hold as opposed to spilling your guts out for all to see. I commend Omar for taking such a horrible happening and making something devastatingly beautiful from it. 

In order to create his visions as, The Mask Of The Phantasm, Omar brought together some amazing talent to bridge with his songs and guitar work  like vocalist Alexa Joan Rae who possesses a uniquely distinct voice, the phenomenal drumming of Thomas Pridgen (The Mars Volta, Trash Talk, The Memorials), divergent artist Saint Nick on piano / organ and essentially a complete horn section in Adrián Terrazas-González (The Mars Volta, Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group, Big Sir).

Press Notes Context:

[Seizing the opportunity to pour his anger and hurt (“…a form of therapy,” as he says), into conjuring an expression of timeless resonance into existence, Omar has spent half a decade fine -tuning every detail.

“Social media has made everything about quantity versus quality,” he explains. “Bands produce less compelling work compared to twenty or more years ago when it was realistic to make a living selling records. I feel like it’s become a lost art, almost… Everyone’s constantly obsessed with ‘posting’ and not actually creating.”]

The Outro of "Final Night At The Duplex" has words that haunt and comfort at the same time:  

I’ll die
Die faster

I know
We’ll reunite again
I’ll die
Die faster
I know
We’ll reunite again

-Robb Donker Curtius