The Machine in the Garden
The Machine in the Garden is a gothic/darkwave duo featuring Roger Fracé and Summer Bowman. Since their formation, Roger and Summer have developed and advanced their unique style through years of collaborating and intertwining their musical tastes.
The band's first release was the 1994 Veils and Shadows EP. Initially a solo endeavor by Roger Fracé, the debut EP blended the dark elements of goth with new wave and industrial tinges. However, folded within the songs were melodies of a more classical nature.
The band's sound further evolved with the addition of musician Summer Bowman. Her enchanting voice lent an ethereal quality to the music on their first full length recording in 1997, Underworld. The dark electronics of the debut EP, which garnered acclaim from press and radio, were still there, but multi-layered with an atmospheric mood and style, giving the CD an original sound transcending pre-existing genres.
Following a string of successful singles on various compilations, the band honed their sound to produce the ethereal One Winter's Night... Released in 1999, One Winter's Night... draws listeners into its hypnotic spell, merging intricate musical structures with emotional lyrics. In its entirety, one is fixed in a soundscape of beauty where synths, guitar, piano and vocals from both Summer and Roger meld to form a darkwave album that excites as well as haunts the senses.
The band continued working in the studio after the success of One Winter's Night... to create their next release, a full-length enhanced multimedia CD, Out of the Mists. This CD takes listeners on a journey through the many facets of the band and explores classical, electronic, goth, and ethereal genres. In their creative exploration, the band made a video for the haunting and melodic song, "The Unaware." Out of the Mists is both visually and musically rich, a stunning tour de force encompassing the band's emotional edge.
Creating a powerful yet delicate mix of darkwave influences and ethereal melodies, the duo of Roger Fracé and Summer Bowman invoked soaring guitars, tribal rhythms and electronic sweeps to create 2002's Asphodel. Like the flower of the album's namesake, Asphodel unfolds layers of the band's vision, relating songs of love and desire, sorrow and despair, always searching for the quiet beauty underneath the darkness that strengthen the roots of the soul.
Their next album, Shadow Puppets is due in April 2005. As part of the celebration of their fifth release the part is performing at Covergence 11, an annual net-goth celebration.
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