“Full Moon Mystery Garden” Will Take You on a Strange and Mystic Listening Journey

The latest mixtape by Wicca Phase Springs Eternal, the pseudonym of Scranton, Pennsylvania artist, Adam McIlwee, is a mystic and strange journey.

Wicca Phase Springs Eternal is often credited with being one of the originators of the “emo rap” genre. This is a style he has mostly stuck to for the nine or so years he has been releasing music under this name. He has ventured into more straight indie-rock or acoustic songs in the vein of his previous band, Tigers Jaw. His music has pretty much stayed within the constraints of trap production.

“Full Moon Mystery Garden” is a collaborative effort between Wicca Phase and the musical collective Garden Avenue. Garden Avenue handled all the production.

The mixtape starts off fairly familiar for fans of Wicca Phase. "Dark Region Road” features swirling, ambient synths, punchy trap drums, and Wicca Phase’s trademark voice and lyrics. 

The next track is where “Full Moon Mystery Garden” lets the listener know what they’re in for. Initially, it feels familiar, opening up with light, melancholic vocals from featured vocalist Darcy Baylis over a rumbling bass line and synthetic keys. But the calm of the intro is short-lived. The track quickly launches into a torrent of drum breaks reminiscent of 1990s jungle drum and bass while Wicca Phase sings his trademark cryptic lyrics in a low drawl.

From this moment on, the project is constantly shifting genres. However, it still somehow remains consistent sonically.

One highlight of the project (among many) is “Vocal Trance Playlist." This track merges slow, ethereal, midwest emo-style guitars with a house drum beat. Fitting for a song with a dance beat, the lyrics are about being young and the joys of partying. This is not a typical subject matter for Wicca Phase. Yet, he manages to make it give me the vibe that I can only get from his music.

This is one of the many genre shifts the project takes. A large portion of the tracklist does use the trap drums that are so common in modern music. They are never typical of what one would expect from these types of drums. On top of this, the genre shifts make the project so much more enjoyable and make it feel like so much more than a normal trap or R&B album. 

Another aspect of this project that makes it feel atypical and hard to compare to anything else is the vocals and lyrics. Wicca Phase has an unusual tone to his voice. It is an acquired taste but is enjoyable if you do like it. The lyrics are also not like much else I have ever heard. They focus on unrelated themes like mysticism and personal experiences. The themes feel so cohesive, though. They are less about stating things obviously as they are about creating a vibe.

A lyric like “I’ve been driving down riverbed road, portal through the pines, baby, I know where to go” may not necessarily have any explicit meaning. It serves to create a unique vibe. Often when hearing lyrics like this, I find myself wondering if there is some meaning behind them that only Wicca Phase himself knows. That alone adds depth to an already fantastic set of songs.

So, if you’re looking for something to expand your horizons or something new to give a listen, I wholeheartedly recommend this mixtape.

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/5Nq3LmMODQsxTxmHI6zDlR?si=z9ZGc2iYTquLCJorDLFTBw