Suzanne Ely | Kurt Cobain | Ten Silver Drops | Brandon Curtis

Low Maintenance

Forget drama - Secret Machines focuses on the music. By Suzanne Ely

Some rock bands and solo artists thrive on dysfunction and chaos. They possess an uncanny skill for bottling tension, processing it, and releasing it back out into the world, beautifully synthesized into a killer song. This is the realm of a genius like Nirvana's Kurt Cobain.

And then there are the well-adjusted, high-functioning musicians who toil quietly, free of internal drama yet still capable of producing highly nuanced, dynamic, and fresh music. They don't score the tabloid headlines but build a slow burn to success and respect. This is the realm of the Secret Machines, two brothers and a friend who are pleasant, polite, well spoken, and most importantly, talented, as evidenced on their sophomore release, Ten Silver Drops. Forget high drama - bassist/keyboardist/singer Brandon Curtis describes the Secret Machines' songwriting process as no-­nonsense and extraordinarily basic. "We just do what we like to do. We want to spend our time making music. It's not a discipline; it's just how you end up living your life."

The Dallas-bred, New York-based trio tasted their first nibble of success two years ago with the release of their debut album, Now Here Is Nowhere. In an age when album sales are judged like opening night at the megaplex - 50 Cent's The Massacre sells 1.14 million copies in its first week! - the Secret Machines are entirely comfortable with the 100,000 copies that their debut has sold. Not bad for a band whose sound is experimental like the Flaming Lips, psychedelic like Pink Floyd, and rock and roll like Led Zeppelin.