Review: Eric Alexandrakis — ‘TERRA’
In one of the most succinct examples of the platitude “art imitates life,” Eric Alexandrakis’ life story — by his own admission — is one you couldn’t write, sing, play or dance. You truly couldn’t imagine a life so ludicrously awe-inspiring.
According to the biography offered on Alexandrakis’ website, “Nazis killed his father’s father, while his mother’s father was a well-known mechanical innovator in Egypt. His parents were immigrants from Greece as well as geniuses in their fields. Eric’s godfather would tell him stories about his good friend and neighbor Albert Einstein. His childhood was filled with academia: his father’s list of impressive accomplishments includes his role of being one of the main co-founders of the University of Crete. Eric’s accomplished mother is highly regarded within Philosophy circles and through her published works.”
Through two occurrences of cancer, Alexandrakis had one hit on the Billboard indicator chart and two hits on the Adult Contemporary charts. In 2019, Alexandrakis’ album titled “I.V. Catatonia: 20 Years As A Two-Time Cancer Survivor” was nominated for the best spoken word Grammy (he lost the award to Michelle Obama). Dedicated to his experiences in and out of treatment, “I.V. Catatonia” explores all the nooks and crannies of being a cancer survivor wrapped up in a brief, nice little 61-track bow.
In 2020, Alexandrakis released a fresh new concept album titled “Terra.” This time opting to limit himself to only 28 songs, Alexandrakis composed this new work as an homage to traveling. He also elected to record most of the songs on his personal 16-track recorder (for reference, other professional artists can have anywhere from four to eight to 100 recording tracks on a single song). Taping mostly in single takes all across the globe, “Terra” is an all-encompassing sensory invitation, this time to explore and reflect on the nooks and crannies of just simply being alive.
Terra’s semi-fried vocal tracks over groovy synthesized beats are heavily reminiscent of current sounds found throughout the alternative and indie genres, and is staged conceptually as the sequel to “I.V. Catatonia.” Alexandrakis has listed numerous influences on his music and on this album specifically, from film music to airline graphics to late 60s Pop and early New Wave.
Alexandrakis wrote “Terra” with the singular goal in mind to offer a different perspective in the alternative music scene, as an “Alternative to the ‘traditional’ Alternative album.” In further discussion of this album’s creation, it was crucial that “Terra” be based on communal human experiences. He called “Terra” his “journey through life, inspiration, turmoil, love and despair.”
“Terra” is available via Alexandrakis’ record company Minoan Music online here, plus on all your favorite streaming services, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music and Tidal.
Sage Souza is a junior studying political science and Spanish. In her free time, she enjoys long walks on the beach, making too many playlists on Spotify, and retweeting Karl Marx fancams.
@sageksouza