Manichean Still Batting 1.000 With New LP Sakura

Brandon Holley

​Rocks Off has been an apostle of The Manichean ever since we grabbed singer Cory Sinclair by the shoulders and demanded he explain to us what the hell a Manichean was. Since then, we have dutifully reviewed every single release he and partner Justice Tirapelli-Jamail have thrown at us, and every single one of them has been an exploration of deep mystery and pure pleasure.

Their music, our locals who have been avoiding them for some odd reason, melds the atmospheric esoteriscims of Tear Garden of the Legendary Pink Dots with the pop poetry of Radiohead. The result is a journey as much as a listening experience, and requires a good deal of contemplation to enjoy to the fullest.

The new album, Sakura, is available for free at the Manichean's BandCamp site, as are all their releases. The short opus serves as a prologue to the band's ultimate creation, the multiple-album epic "Whispers Saga."

"It was initially going to be a two to three song 'single' but as with most things Justice and I work on it expanded somewhat dramatically," said Sinclair.

The most solid thread that continues to sew together the ever-increasing saga is the idea of rising. The saga features a character named Lacerus, an obvious reference to Lazarus who Jesus raised from the dead. The Whispers EP ended with a lyric about the suicide of a phoenix, which also always rises from the dead.

Even the legendary human albatross Icarus makes an appearance in Sakura, though it's clear from the lyrics that Sinclair and Tirapelli-Jamail are interested only in the fact that he flew, not that he fell.

"The concept of rising and 'surpassing' given situations is very prevalent in our music right now, both lyrically and with the actual music that Justice writes," Sinclair says. "I think both Justice and I have certain things in our personal lives that we've been trying to move beyond since we started working on The Manichean more than four years ago, at which time Justice was a teenager and I was in my early twenties.

"It shines through in the music and poetry because we're constantly attempting to better ourselves, which I translate into the story. I wouldn't say there's anything we're trying to escape but rather face head-on; to stare that shadow in the face until it either engulfs you or assumes its proper place - behind and beneath you.

"Experiences are not to be forgotten or escaped but rather manipulated to serve as a prompt, a lesson, a new beginning."