Marc Soucy opens The Out Cats with a cerebral spoken word introduction “For centuries, secret societies are rumoured to have been manipulating world events, investigators have uncovered a connection between one of these societies and the events surrounding the progressive musical group, ANTARTICA…”
The genius conceptual and avant-garde intro invites us to select our preferred style of music, and of course, in the video, we see the word: PROG. The opus expands with sublime instrumentation into a jazz fusion with dramatic nuance.
Masterful performances guide us with the cinematic appeal that we have enjoyed thus far from the ANTARTICA project which has been unearth decades later to ensure that it sees the light of day. Marc tells us, “This is the fifth installment of the ANTARTICA: The Live Archives series, all music having been composed by me as a young man. It marks the culmination of the works of Antartica the band, and launches my direction as a composer, setting the early stages of where I am heading now.”
There is that playful dimensionality that we have come to adore from the project – akin to a video game, boundless in energy and colour. Again, reminding us of a SEGA game. The video has a super cerebral edge questioning reality as we know it with the subtitles that accompany the composition.
We appreciate the high octane nature and the trippy and psychedelic detailing that allow us to lose ourselves in this 8-bit universe. We learn that The Out Cats is the most ambitious and complex piece of music played by ANTARTICA. The creative ebbs and flows and soft breakdowns and rebuilds are enigmatic and magnetic. The piano outro and spoken word conclusion bring the story full circle. It’s insanely clever and we love the journey!
Marc Soucy tells us how he pushed his own limits and the music video had to do the same. Jeff, Ray, and Marc always took “a collective deep breath before starting any performance” of this work. The video presents a mysterious conspiracy theory wrapped in the “ANTARTICA mythology” that has been developing over the previous music videos. It is meant to be humorous, yet also a commentary on the prevalence and spread of conspiracy theories nowadays.
We have added The Out Cats to our New Music Spotlight playlist, and our TIMELESS and TRIPPY playlists, whilst we continue to stream the wider discography of Marc Soucy and ANTARTICA, and anticipate future releases.