It’d been 10 months since the band members of sister-led, world-folk music outfit Rising Appalachia had seen each other, much less played music together. A grand reunion took place for a one-off live stream show in 2020 at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, NC, but positivity and creativity took root, and the very next day the band remained in the studio with no plan except to “Press record and see what happens.” What poured out of the six members of Rising Appalachia was nothing short of divine musical guidance—a full-length album dubbed The Lost Mystique of Being in the Know. Out today, this new collection of nine songs is abstract; a concept album of sorts of which the band calls “the most dynamic fun we have ever had in the studio.” Rising Appalachia—Leah Song, Chloe Smith, Biko Casini, Arouna Diara, Duncan Wickel, and David Brown—removed themselves from the outcome, let the songs lead, and were rewarded with a gorgeous snapshot of not just the music, but the time and circumstance that forged it. Fans can stream or purchase the entirety of The Lost Mystique of Being in the Know right now at this link.
Engineered by Julian Dreyer at Echo Mountain, mixed by Jason Richmond, and mastered by John Davis at Metropolis, The Lost Mystique of Being in the Know really was an impromptu, organic, and healing process for all involved. “All the strangeness of the year, all the high tides and low tides, came out through the music,” says Smith of the recording process. “We did not have a plan or a knowing of what we wanted to achieve. We simply wanted to get outside our own box and see what would happen if, during one of the most unpredictable years of our lives, we came together and let the music speak for itself and carve its own path into the rock.” While listening to the album will clearly convey the magic that transpired in Rising Appalachia’s studio homecoming, Smith wrote an encompassing poem inspired by their experience.
lets start with the unknowing,
here,
in this seasonality of uncertainty.
that which always changes,
undos itself
and begins fresh with the morning dawn
after a long night of disheveled dancing.
rowdy trickster.
any true master would never claim to be
someone to follow,
any person ripe in age will tell you
at the end of it all
that they know quite little still
and feel fresh as a child.
parallel time loop.
two ends of a spectrum,
closer together than apart.
so we, too, unknow.
unplug the tendrils and let the music come
claim and identify us
in our rawest form.
uncharted territory always makes for
a better story.
like cupid unrehearsed on his big day
tending to the ewes and lambs
of love.
narcissist left alone by the pool.
ego aside, we step into the room
with tool in hand and a trance to command
the space.
instruments masterfully made of wood and fiber.
mischief over the logical mind, incessant in this time.
where does it end?
where does it begin?
it's a lost mystique,
this being in the know.
The Lost Mystique of Being in the Know Tracklist:
Catalyst
Ngoni
Silver
Tempest
Lost Girl
Top Shelf
Clay
Keep Going
Depth
