Formed in the summer of 1999, New York City's Time of Orchids possesses a unique and jarring slant - a wedding of staggered "prog rock" angularity and a sweeping, seductive beauty, informed as much by 1960s Italian film scores as by claustrophobia and deep orbit. Comprised of members Chuck Stern (keyboard, vocals), Eric Fitzgerald (guitar, vocals), Jesse Krakow (bass) and Dave Bodie (drums), the band has shared the stage with the likes of Orthrelm, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Kayo Dot and Blind Idiot God, putting on some cryptic and truly spellbinding live shows. Time of Orchids is known for its bizarre and varied discography, having released three albums - 2001's somber, doom-laden Melonwhisper (featuring pianist Marilyn Crispell), 2002's cruder, far more skeletal Much Too Much Fun (featuring Kate Pierson of The B-52's) and 2003's obtuse and enigmatic Early As Seen in Pace, on Epicene Sound - before signing to John Zorn's Tzadik label in 2005 with the release of the highly-acclaimed Sarcast While (featuring Julee Cruise). Time Out NY praised the album's "haunted sonic cinematography and elliptical poetry," adding, "dense and complex, Sarcast While opens up to the listener only gradually... but that's exactly what makes it such a rich, engrossing experience." Now, courtesy of Cuneiform Records, comes the band's fifth and most dramatic work yet - the epic Namesake Caution - an album that sparkles with a deceptive pop linearity and ventures maniacally into the stark, abyssal realm of wanderlust, coven and austere cybernetics. Be warned: this is romance of a coarse, sonic soothsaying, brimming with only the most treacherous of skullduggery. Meticulously recorded by Colin Marston (of Dysrhythmia and Behold... The Arctopus), Namesake Caution boasts layer upon layer of rich, orchestrated vocals, lavishly spied-out guitar antics and eerie, otherworldly keyboard textures, draped voyeuristically atop a complex, confounding rhythm section. Songs writhe and intersect, taking on the form of anthems one moment and desperate, plodding dirges the next, pulsing with what Downtown Music Gallery deems "great precision and painstakingly crafted melody and harmony." www.timeoforchids.com www.myspace.com/timeoforchids