Randy McStine is a name you probably may or may not recognise. He has been around writing and performing music for 15 years. From his solo project Lo-Fi Resistance, The Fringe, In Continuum, and his collaboration with Marco Minnemann, Randy has kept everything in the palm of his hand.
But then, two years ago, he had become a touring guitarist for Porcupine Tree’s reunion at the time they were promoting their eleventh studio album Closure / Continuation, and contributing with Steven Wilson for his upcoming release of The Overview in 2025, he shows no sign of stopping.
This year he’s unleashed his latest album Mutual Hallucinations. Five years in the making during the time when the world came to a screeching halt when the pandemic hit, this gave him time to construct and search the true meaning of finding out who you really are.
From the who’s who, ranging from Gavin Harrison, Adam Holzman, Pat Mastelotto, Nick D’Virgilo, followed by the mixing between Steven Wilson and Tim Palmer, Randy brings the Hallucinations to life in all of its true forms. According to an interview with Anil Prasad’s Innerviews website, Randy named the album after a hyper-individualistic perception of the world.
“We’re all walking around with a different take on what the world even is”, he explains to Prasad, “With a different take on what the world even is, much less what’s happening in it. It’s a hallucination of sorts”. From the ukulele introduction behind ‘counterintuitive’, the door opens up with a synthesised reflection of the human race going in different directions.
You fall into space and time, looking through the past and present, knowing the memories you had that were once good, goes into this chaotic frenzy with hay-wiring results. The gentle loss of innocence behind ‘Adopted Son’ tackles an alternative route that Randy tackles, dealing with the hope of reconciliation and give some understanding on why parents would leave their children behind.
But it’s the bursting bright of energy that soars throughout ‘Send Your Light’ as McStine brings in the big guns, tackling the nods from Porcupine Tree to Neal Morse’s lyrical arrangements thrown into the mix. He pours his heart and soul in this song, making sure the people who went through the cabin fevers of being couped in their apartments or home, to come outside and be free from all of the chaos they went through.
The breakdown on ‘Economy of Differences’ details the mass shootings that’s been going on in America. McStine felt it was right by writing this deep, dark, and poignant song to people who were still struggling through all of the craziness they’ve been watching on the news, to look at themselves in the mirror, knowing things will be different, and not rushing to conclusions.
Going down into a complex mode with some funky chickens, ‘The Scroll’ is Randy revealing his darker side, adding in those jazzy orientations to go along with it, he adds in more instruments to go from a brighter arrangement, darker atmospheres, and ascending finales with unbelievable results. Listening to ‘Impossible Door’ it felt as if it was recorded in his Bedroom, channeling the lyrical textures of Bowie’s Hunky Dory-era before it ascends upwards to the heavens with a mysterious creature that he has encountered.
Closing track ‘Remains’ goes into this ‘80s New Wave approach which speaks of The Police’s Synchronicity-era. Here, Randy takes us into the Sahara Desert, synths of electro drum patterns, wah-wah guitar chords, volcanic eruption at the end, and Wayne Coyne’s lyrical textures, he sets up a beautiful lullaby to make sure everything is okay and all of the troubles that we went through during the pandemic four years ago.
Mutual Hallucinations doesn’t sound like an album that pushes you over the edge of the cliff, it puts you in a sudden trance to be in Randy’s mind, revealing all of the struggles and emotional boundaries with tragic consequences. It is a compelling and potential release that’ll keep you returning to go back and see what you’ve been missing.
