SOS Radio
by Atlantic Rising
2007 album
One of Sky Saxon’s more mysterious albums, especially given its more recent provenance and continued availability, is 2007’s SOS Radio. The artist credit is Atlantic Rising, often rendered as the much longer Atlantic Rising Featuring Sky Sunlight Saxon and Demetrius. The cover art also confuses the title: the phrase SSS Radio is given just as much prominence as SOS Radio. For this one, both the title and the artist name are in question. Well done, Sky, well done. You win this one.
SOS Radio was evidently recorded in Greece in 2005 with the mysterious Demetrius. This was, if legend is accurate, the same overseas trip that saw Sky record Transparency in England with Sterling Roswell. We don’t know if SOS Radio was ever available in physical form – a CD-r, perhaps – but it has been on several MP3 services for years.
The songs on SOS Radio are all long; the first four are psychedelic meditations of eight or nine minutes each. A five-minute closing track is nearer to garage rock, although it retains the repetitiveness and hypnotic quality of the others. Sky Saxon is in full Armageddon-warning mode on parts of SOS Radio while on others he either babbles about food or animals, or veers into the chanting of wordless syllables.
All of this is meant as the highest compliment, by the way: SOS Radio is excellent.
About the songs on SOS Radio
- "And Still They Come"
A tense rant about missiles and bombs and all the instruments of war. For the record, Sky is against. - "SOS Radio"
The title piece finds Sky zipping back and forth between disparate subjects over a hypnotic background of sounds. He most often seems fascinated by radios and by the sequences of letters “SSS” and “SOS”. - "Have You Figured It Out Now?"
This long and mellower piece challenges listeners to see the real truth. It’s there, if you’ll just look for it. This one is bliss. - "Bread For Your Head"
A lengthy and (yes) at times comical rumination on food, especially the cakes and cookies that might be used to feed dogs. “Dog, god, dog, god,” he advises. - "Space To Earth: Can You Hear Me?"
A lovely closing track, faster and more conventional rock than the rest of SOS Radio. But not completely; this song is as repetitive and psychedelic as the rest of the album, just in a more compact form.
