A few things work against the Mandrake Project becoming a financially viable band.
One member, Rick Nelson, lives in New Orleans, and also is a member of the Polyphonic Spree and the Twilight Singers.
Its record company, the Netherlands-based Glassville Records, is making the new album "Transitions" available via iTunes and amazon.com only in the United States.
"Mandrake has always been a logistical nightmare," says guitarist Kirk Salopek in advance of the band's CD release party Saturday at Club Cafe, South Side. "The band never plays enough live as much as any of us would like. It's just a very difficult unit to get together.
Fortunately, the music makes the barriers and roadblocks worth surmounting. The Mandrake Project, whose eight members hail from Elizabeth, Mt. Lebanon and other points in between, create a sound unlike any other in the region, perhaps, the country. The easy labels are progressive or New Age, but neither do justice to a sound that's intelligent, ornate and mesmerizing.
"It has a definite symphonic element," Salopek says, noting that the most apt comparisons are to bands such as Arcade Fire and Elbow. "It's cerebral, for sure. ... But it's also cinematic rock. A lot of times, people will tell me they hear the songs and think of this or that, and they put together these elaborate scenarios together from what they're getting from the music. I think it's incredible that these songs are able to evoke imagery like that."
Salopek calls the music on "Transitions" the "most popular and accessible music we've written." It is also gives vocalist John Schisler (who is the chief of photography for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) a more expanded role. Schisler, formerly of New Invisible Joy and the Kelly Affair, made a few guest appearances on Mandrake's previous album, "A Miraculous Container." He assumes a more integral role on "Transitions," writing all the lyrics.
But with Mandrake, nothing is done in a straightforward manner. Some of the songs on the new records are 10 to 12 years old, formerly fallow ideas that Salopek and drummer David Chapman Jamison dusted off and gave new life. After adding new orchestration and arrangements, Schisler was called in to write lyrics.
"John was like a horn player or a specialist who came in after the tunes were written and said, 'I have something to add to this texture, but my instrument is the voice,' " Salopek says. "John had to work really hard. He was given this heaping plate of music, and he had to find melodies and ways to put his voice into that layer of sound. It was a daunting task for him."
Additional Information:The Mandrake Project CD release concert
With: the Emily Rogers Band
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Admission: $10
Where: Club Cafe, South Side
Details: 866-468-3401 or clubcafelive.com
