Maple Mars
Circular Haze
Kool Kat (www.maplemars.com)

If you think the “concept album” is a lost art, destined to remain a relic of a distant past, dig your musical craw into Circular Haze, the second album by Maple Mars. Singer/songwriter Rick Hromadka dream weaves a tale of a journey through space, intermingling literal and figurative signposts in a way similar to that of an abstract painting, which is to say that it’s eseentially up to the listener to make his or her own interpretation as to what it all means. This all takes place within a musical backdrop of pop/psychedelia, as many of these songs are replete with phased guitars, tremulous effects, backwards solos, and sparkling melodies, oft inspired by “Space Oddity” or “Rocket Man”. The journey begins, appropriately enough, with “The Beginning,” a textbook slice of stirring psychedelic pop. As we wend our way through the Maple Mars spatial voyage, we meet and greet the likes of the “First Chick In Space,” the “Golden People,” take a ride on the “Soft Carousel,” and rest awhile “Under The Blue Moon”. Ultimately we find ourselves “Home,” weary from our journey but extremely fulfilled, because Circular Haze is absolutely, without question, the best album of pure psychedelic power pop you’ll hear this year.

David Bash