Talk about taking a negative experience and turning it into something positive. There's a true flurry of albums and projects coming out right now that were gestated during and sometimes directly because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent social and economic shutdown that the world experience as a response to curtail its spread and impact. it seems like every other week the subject pops back up because of how relevant it remains, at least in that regard.

The lockdown changed many things for many people, and not all of that was for the better. For some of us, it was as if nothing had really changed all that much, but for others, they were forced to confront themselves and look inwards. A lot of people didn't like what they found within the confines of their homes and themselves, and the Mental Health sector is just beginning to help people pick up the pieces of their lives shattered in seclusion and global uncertainty.

Today's album comes exactly from a place of tough self-examination sparked and brewed by and during those two years of relative isolation that Big wild went through alongside almost every one of us. To keep with this theme of introspection and emotion and minds in turmoil, Big Wild named his sophomore album "The Efferusphere" which is something of a metaphysical concept describing a fictional place within the album's narrative, and it is roughly defined as "the emotional atmosphere of life on earth" or some sort of connective field made out of emotions and feelings that exists just out of sight but that we can definitely tap into through empathy, which is the key word driving the album.

"Ironically, exploring an imagined place like The Efferusphere helped me create something more real. It's liberating to share these songs with you and to have this album out in the world.” - Big Wild

From his 2019 debut "Superdream" to here, Big Wild shows an interesting sonic development that sidelines some of the more electronic elements in favor of warmer acoustic touches, which of course are conducive to the specific themes that he's building up through this sophomore release.

From energetic electro-pop beats to unmistakeably alt-rock riffs, "Efferusphere" is an eclectic patchwork product of many different feelings and moods coming together in eccentric patterns that defy all labeling, for instance, you have pretty straight-forward early 2000s pop-rock anthems like "Feel-Good", but the song right before it, "Don't Rush", feels almost like a vaguely modern take on a Pink Floyd track from the "Wish You Were Here" era, and this is something of a repeating trend because you can never quite peg the album squarely into one realm or neat category, instead what you have is something that is radically free-form but nonetheless cohesive and harmonious, thoroughly interesting and completely wide open. Describing "Efferusphere" in a single sentence is hard work without making it sound like some disjointed chaotic piece tantamount to a heap of spaghetti thrown at the wall, but everything is deliberate and beautiful, I suppose it's as chaotic as one may look at a primal virgin forest and say "there's no discernible, planning to any of this" as one would say of a neatly arranged office building, but the order is truly there and it is natural, we can understand and appreciate it even on a purely instinctual level. At times I truly felt like I was listening to an unreleased track by Roger Waters, other times I simply did not know what it was exactly that I was listening to, and that felt great because I felt challenged, and I felt surprised, engaged, and satisfied.

I can't say that I loved every song, for instance, the hype electro-oriented "Waiting Outside" was not my cup of tea at all, but neither can I in good conscience call it a "low point" in the album by any stretch of the imagination. It was just a different flavor of different in what makes one of the most interesting albums I've heard all year.

“It was scary to look at myself in an honest way when writing this album. Some songs came easy, the fun or sexy ones. I've always felt comfortable expressing joy. But other songs left me feeling naked and ugly. A few lines still sink an uncomfortable pit in my stomach. But I listen back and think "that's me, that's genuine." - Big Wild

Ultimately, I think that "The Efferusphere" manages to capture the musical zeitgeist; not for all the sounds that it incorporates but in the way that they're all brought together in unexpected structures that shouldn't work or that shouldn't make sense when viewed through the lens of music in the traditional taxonomy of genres and subgenres. Somewhere along the line, some of the boxes were torn down, and contemporary artists are now -perhaps more than ever before- beginning to really be playful with their own sound in an immediate sense, song-for-song rather than album-by-album. Perhaps this is the dimension that Big Wild discovered during the lockdown, and perhaps albums like his are the appropriate response to it.

Alongside the album release, Big Wild launched The Efferusphere Call Center (971) 339-0410 for fans to discover a wealth of information, music and interactive avenues to engage with his music. He is also about to go a 21-date North American Tour with special guests Biig Piig and Josh Fudge, set to kick off September 14 in Philadelphia, PA which includes festival appearances at the likes of Austin City Limits, Life Is Beautiful, Corona Capital & more.

A Rocket up to 'The Efferusphere'

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