Hypatia Lake: “…And We Shall Call Him Joseph” (Sad Robot)

Hypatia Lake is the musical equivalent to Stephen King’s Castle Rock—a backwater town of complex intertwining lives, a citizenry rocked by inexplicable events. At Hypatia’s center, however, are not supernatural second-hand stores or childhood quests for dead bodies but a candy factory. The band’s first album, Your Universe, Your Mind, chronicled its employees’ growing frustration (“The Goddamn Factory and the Cog ’n’ Wheel”); “…And We Shall Call Him Joseph” tells the story of someone who does something about it.

Meet Joseph Bigsby. As a young man, he watches his father die, but not before being left with the parting words that’ll reverberate through his lifetime (about a quarter-hour or so): “Son! If you don’t see that war outside, you’re blind as hell! Son! If you don’t see that war outside, you never will!” That tragedy retreating into his psyche, Joseph embarks on an introverted adventure that will find him choked by school, bored by the suburbs, and almost perpetually alone with only his thoughts as company, either on a surfboard or in his bedroom. Time passes, and Joseph weds the lovely Martha (“The candles are jealous of your eyes”). But this idyll is forever destroyed when Martha is murdered. When the town mayor appears uninterested in bringing her killer to justice—and conditions at the candy factory grow worse—Joseph and his friend Timothy unite the factory employees and rebel in a violent uprising that results in the factory’s destruction and Joseph’s death.

The story is compelling, the musicianship equally so, evoking massive vistas of possibility. The twin guitars of Hypatia leader Lance Watkins and engineer Zack Reinig thread the plot, exploding and pealing with fury and regret, culminating in the searing demolition of “Timothy’s Militia (How To Blow Up a Candy Factory).” The band effortlessly juggles Pink Floyd and shoegaze influences to create a work of haunting, breathtaking glory. The factory may now be ashes and ghosts, but let’s hope a return trip is imminent. (www.hypatialake.com)

9 Blips out of 10 By Cory Frye