Mandrake Project was an American band based in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

. Primarily an instrumental band, they have been referred to as crossover progressive,

ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

jam-band A jam band is a musical group whose concerts and live albums substantially feature improvisational "jam session, jamming". Typically, jam bands will play variations of pre-existing songs, extending them to musical improvisation, improvise ove ...

and even

jazz-rock Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music Music genre, genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, a ...

. In November 2007, Mandrake Project began the recording of their second album and first "official" label release, "A Miraculous Container." The collection of songs for the album was recorded over a period of about 10 months and was released on March 24, 2009. Through a turn of events, the band ended up signing a contract with Swedish label Blistering Records, who deal primarily with hard rock and metal acts. Despite the often confusing representation between the band and label, the album garnered critical praise in the months after its release in both press and AAA radio. In February 2009, a pre-release copy of "A Miraculous Container" caught the ear of

John Diliberto ''Echoes'' is a daily two-hour music radio program hosted by John Diliberto featuring a soundscape of ambient music, ambient, Space music, space, electronica, and new-age music. The program features in-depth artist interviews and intimate "livi ...

, host of the nationally syndicated radio program Echoes. The album appeared on the show's Top 25 in June 2009 with artists such as

Moby Richard Melville Hall (September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, disc jockey, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "amo ...

Bill Frisell William Richard Frisell (born March 18, 1951) is an American jazz guitarist. He first came to prominence at ECM Records in the 1980s, as both a session player and a leader. He went on to work in a variety of contexts, notably as a participant ...

Robin Guthrie Robin Andrew Guthrie (born 4 January 1962) is a Scottish musician, songwriter, composer, record producer and audio engineer, best known as the co-founder of the post punk alternative rock band Cocteau Twins. During his career Guthrie has ...

and Leo Abrahams, peaking at #2 in August and earning a spot on the overall Top 25 for 2009. This eventually led to an invitation to perform live for an installment of the show's acclaimed ''Livingroom Concert Series''. One of the live tracks recorded during the concert, "Beauxsong" was included on the 15th Anniversary Echoes Livingroom Concert Series CD, ''Still Echoes'', alongside artists as diverse as

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma (born October 7, 1955) is a French-born American Cello, cellist. Born to Chinese people, Chinese parents in Paris, he was regarded as a child prodigy there and began to study the cello with his father at age four. At the age of seven, ...

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He was the leader of the Pat Metheny Group (1977–2010) and continues to work in various small-combo, duet, and solo settings, as well as other side pr ...

Air An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

Al Di Meola Albert Laurence Di Meola (born July 22, 1954) is an American guitarist. Known for his work in jazz fusion and world music, his breakthrough came after joining Chick Corea's Return to Forever group in 1974. He launched, from 1976 afterwards, a s ...

and

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

. In addition, Mandrake Project was added to both John Diliberto's Top 10 CD's and Songs lists for 2009, ranking #9 for Best Album with ''A Miraculous Container'' and #7 for Best Song with "And Five Makes Twenty." Jean-Phillipe Haas, French webzine critic at Chromatique.net listed ''A Miraculous Container'' as his pick for the #1 album in 2009. Several other US & European music webzines and press offered positive reviews of the record as well in the months after its release.

References

{{Reflist Musical groups from Pittsburgh