At the time of this publication, Nashville is literally buzzing with the sound of the cicada. Brood XIX is the population of buggies that emerges every 13-years and they are here in full force. The hypnotic sound they make is coming from the male of the species, seeking a mate. It is often, without question, deafening. Some folks are not a fan of this natural aural performance but Zook is clearly enjoying it; as he has woven their spell into his new 3-song, 22-minute, EP Cicada Cymphonie.
Zook’s usage of the cicada sound is non-obvious and particularly clever. The little beady-eyed buddies are most certainly sampled in these compositions but Zook has warped, morphed and weaved them into his psychedelic pop songs in such a way that you feel drawn into a cicada dreamscape, not simply a flurry of buggos.
Listening to the 13-minute title track I was impressed that I could not tell when the song ended and the real life cicada chorus around me began. The sounds outside my window were so expertly interwoven that you’d be a fool not to listen to this track outside, lying underneath the nearest cicada swarmed tree.