“The last time we were able to deliver a Steve Scott album, it was a collection of stories and feelings crafted over a decade’s (or more) worth of time. Perhaps it was the global pandemic’s penchant for driving focus, or maybe it was self-directed study of various religious texts, but something stirred our favorite British expat toward a cycle based on a 1926 booklet by Lilias Trotter. “Secret” begins with a pair of set pieces that read like memories as much as they do poems. The remainder of the album works through seven movements (plus an epilogue) that mirror Trotter’s writing.
Each poem is accompanied by subtly haunted tones that reinforce the presence of something more than Scott’s words. There are extended moments beyond the words that seem to invite reflection and internalization – as if the sounds that swirl around Scott mimic the role of Virgil leading Dante through the Inferno, Purgatory, and ultimately, Paradise.
Some albums resonate because the vibe they create invites an immediate repeated listen – the party doesn’t have to stop. The resonance of The Way of the Sevenfold Secret is paradoxical in that the listener may find the silence replacing the final track to be the perfect headspace to make sense of the meditation through which they were just ushered.”
You can listen or purchase digitally or in CD form on BandCamp.