McCully/Mackay return to their prog roots with new single "The Elixir of Life"

Cape Town duo McCully/Mackay's varied output to date includes everything from heartfelt, anthemic rock to quirky synth-pop, but progressive music was always the foundation upon which Tully McCully and Gordon Mackay built this project.

The band's latest single 'The Elixir of Life' is an expansive and haunting ballad and a return to the 70s progressive sound in a surprisingly literal way. The song was written by Tully in 1969 when he was 16 years old and despite featuring occasionally in the live repertoires of his various bands since then, it has never been recorded or fully realised until now.

"I was very inspired by Emerson, Lake and Palmer" says Tully "and I had a very specific idea for the kind of keyboard parts I wanted on the song. Nobody was ever able to play those kind of parts though, until I met Gordon. That's when I knew it was finally time to record it. I sent him the track without any keys or any instructions and, as he always does, he knew knew exactly what to play."

"Tully sends me these amazing songs he's written" says Gordon, "and sometimes, upon first hearing, I know what I'm going to play and what will hopefully work with the song"

"With Elixir, Tully had played these really cool acoustic guitar chords at the beginning and I 'heard' a sparse piano intro coming up followed by just single notes to accompany the vocal line. The high synth also seems to add a certain mystique to the beginning."

Lyrically the song is virtually unchanged from the original composition, and while the words are carried and coloured by Tully's years of musical and life experience they also maintain the youthful intensity and innocence of the boy who wrote them.

Originally titled 'Alone', the track's introspective themes feel dark initially and express universal fears and anxieties: loneliness, a search for meaning, the passing of time and progression of life. Ultimately though the message is one of hope, as we are urged to find meaning within ourselves, awaken to the beauty of the world and break free of our mental chains.

'The Elixir of Life' will be available on all digital platforms from 23rd of September 2022.

The music video features haunting footage from the 1920s that somehow feels both nostalgic and contemporary, watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HqAwBIPyp0

Music link >> https://orcd.co/y0nvxpe

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