The Cyclist Conspiracy - Mashallah Plan (Subsound Records 2023.)
The Cyclist Conspiracy is one of those bands whose music is very hard to categorize. The easiest way to describe it would be to say that they play psychedelic rock with folk influences, but such a description would only scratch the surface of the amount of energy this Serbian band has. Their songs often dance on the edge of chaos, never crossing it, maintaining a constant sense of anticipation and a quest for a new listening experience. Influences of Balkan, African, and Middle Eastern music can be heard in their songs, and after a series of EPs, The Cyclist Conspiracy released an album titled "Mashallah Plan" for Subsound Records. Nikola Urošević presented each song from that release for Izvorišta.
The Great Staurocycle
There is a passage in “Bicyclism and Theology” that says that the bicycle is a cross (from the bird's perspective) and that the man crucifies himself by riding it. “The Great Staurocycle” is an initiation song, the first step in the desert. The song is the contemplation of the cross and its symbolism. The cross is one of the oldest symbols and basically, it represents the meeting of horizontal and vertical dimensions, thus creating the perfect human being.
Virility
Everything started with “Virility”. We had an idea about a song that would radiate male, solar energy, and the original version was with throat singing. However, things didn’t work out this way. The idea of adding the female choir came while I listened to Popol Vuh’s “Agape-Agape Love-Love”, which is one of my favorite records of all time. So we tried something similar and it fit perfectly, giving the much-needed “yin” balance to the song. “Virility” comes from “virya” which is a Hindu/Buddhist term - it can be roughly translated as “effort”, “diligence” or “manliness” and it is related to pro-active energies that help you overcome the odds and gain virtue.
The Blood of the Lamb
This song was directly inspired by the Book of Revelation (12:11). Since I was a kid I have been fascinated by the Apocalypse and the song was an attempt to contextualize a part of it in a manner of a retro symphonic space opera piece. However, it turned out different. A friend of mine, Mileta Okiljević said that it sounds like “a movie about the adventures of Don Quixote through iconoclastic Byzantium directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky”. That was pretty close ha ha. In its essence, “The Blood of the Lamb” is all about sacrifice and victory – the victory of life over death.
Bicyclism and Theology excerpt #4
Just another transmission from the desert. We like to play with sounds and textures. The riff in the song was recorded during the rehearsal, while we jammed, and it sounded like another message.
Deneb
This is the only song that was recorded live in the studio and the whole thing was an intimate, magical experience. It took us only a few takes but we had to “refurnish” a couple of places in the song later. It felt like being on a battlefield or going through some sort of ordeal together, everyone in a band could feel this. “Deneb” is a star in the constellation of Cygnus (The Swan), with a very long cultural history. It represents the tail of the swan and it was often seen as the “bridge” over the river, the Milky Way. So, “Deneb” was this crossing point before making the giant leap of faith, I guess.
Holy Maps of Axum
This song was inspired by the Ethiopian legend which says that the Ark of the Covenant is kept hidden in the holy city of Axum. However, the music sounds more like Western Africa with a certain reggae flavor. While doing the song we lost control at one point and everything started going in a weird, almost klezmer-like direction. It was interesting, but it was too messy and far from the original concept so we gave up the idea. We are very curious about Ethiopia, their music and culture is just magical. And every time I think about Ethiopia I can’t stop thinking about the time around The Second World War and hundreds of thousands of people, equipped mainly with bows and spears against a much more powerful enemy, determined to defend their country and their divine emperor, Haile Selassie. It’s one of the most heartbreaking pictures of love and loyalty.
Simorgh
The initial inspiration for the song was “The Conference of the Birds”, a 12th-century Sufi poem by Farid ud-Din Attar. It’s an allegory about the journey of the soul (represented by the bird) toward the source of Being represented by Simorgh, a mythical bird from Persian mythology. It took us a few years to finish the song – we didn’t want to push things because it was supposed to be the final chapter of “Mashallah Plan”. “Simorgh” is also a pun, meaning “thirty birds” in Persian since only thirty birds reach their destination in the end and thus collectively create The Bird of Birds. We had a guest appearance by Ivan Simeunović on violin who did an amazing job. He’s a classically trained musician and since I’m completely illiterate when it comes to writing and reading notes, we communicated through the language of symbols and images during the recording session. „OK Ivan, now imagine this big flock of birds swirling and ascending, turning into sheer splendor...“. And we perfectly understood each other. Symbols and images are like our second language - music has always been the first.