Water Sphere

When I was 16, my mom refused to let me drive to Deep Ellum for the Pilotdrift show. My brother and I snuck off anyway, and were subsequently busted when my 1993 Nissan Quest failed to start after the concert. I was grounded for nearly a month.

It was totally worth it.

Water Sphere, Pilotdrift's first album on the Good Record label, is one of my favorite albums of all time. Here's what Amazon.com has to say about Water Sphere.

"Water Sphere begins with the theatrical, haunting, dark, (and yet somehow inviting) "hit-you-from-behind" rock of "Caught in My Trap". Layers of instruments surround and enfold dangerously evocative vocals, drawing the listener, inescapably, into its net. From there it drops you into the unchartered pop waters of "Bubblecraft", which sounds like a 1970s James Bond, passed out in a jazz lounge, dreaming about the far future. After the electrical rain dance of "Passenger Seat", Pilotdrift entertains you with the fantasy story of "Late Night in a Wax Museum". The middle of the record is anchored by a haunting 10-minute epic entitled "Jekyll and Hyde Suite" that sounds like a two-faced orchestra battling within itself to free from a straitjacket. Immediately following is the Antarctic tale of Shackleton and his journey to "Elephant Island". A train ride through the Middle East takes you to "Rings of Symbols", an intense, mesmerizing sitar rock song. The album then cools you off with "Comets", a trance-instrumental that leaves you rested and ready for the last song, "So Long", an anthem in every sense of the word. Galloping and triumphant, it feels like coming up over a peak and seeing the sun burst out in front of you."

Here are the last two songs from the album:

Comets- Pilotdrift

So Long- Pilotdrift