Features

PROVIDED PHOTO Enlarge Image

Illusive Mind, the world’s finest purveyors of Prairie concept metal.

Winnipeg band Illusive Mind lives up to its self-proclaimed ‘Prairie metal’ sound on Pembina, its fourth full-length album.
   
"The concept is to take a quick tour through the history of the Pembina Valley," says Terrell Froese, 25, Illusive Mind’s drummer/violinist.
   
"We start with a song about the politics of land usage, then there’s an epic, three-part song that goes back in time. It starts with a song about the flooding of the Red River, goes back into Lake Agassiz times and talks about dinosaurs swimming around in the water, and then goes back even further to the ice age."
   
Pembina and the aforementioned three-track suite, titled Floodways, isn’t the band’s first expansive musical project. Formed in 2004 by Froese and vocalist/guitarist Todd McDougall, Illusive Mind’s first three albums — 2006’s Vagrant Moth, 2008’s Vagrant Moth 2 and 2010’s Vagrant Moth 3 — were released under the moniker The lllusive Mind Gypsy Crew and featured epic songs, ambitious lyrical concepts and a plethora of guest musicians.
   
"With Vagrant Moth 3, we had this trilogy that we capped off in really over-the-top fashion. It was like our Dark Side of the Moon, spare-no-expense project," says McDougall, who, with Froese, is joined in the band by guitarist Tyler Nielsen, bassist Daniel Trupp and keyboardist Aaron Simoes.
   
The new album was a five-person project, but Illusive Mind’s live show takes six. The band is almost always accompanied onstage by jaymez, who provides live visuals. The local audio/visual artist was referred to the band by former member Blake Minaker, who suggested jaymez open the Vagrant Moth 2 release show with a set of electronic music.
   
"He played his set and had visuals for it, and I remember saying to him that it was great to see someone with visual projections all set up for their music, controlling both at the same time," McDougall says.
   
"Without missing a beat he said, ‘You want me to do it for your set, too?’ and, just for the fun of the night, we did."
   
Like usual, jaymez will be on hand when Illusive Mind releases Pembina on Feb. 18 at the Atomic Centre. Be sure to pick up the band’s download cards when you’re there which can be used to attain Pembina, for free.
 

ILLUSIVE MIND
Feb. 18, 9 p.m.
Atomic Centre
w/ Viridians, Cloudfight