This year, The Oracle recorded the second release "Once, I Had It All." Fellow Mountain Man members Bill Shaner, Kevin Fitzgerald and Jesse Menard collaborated on the project, which employed much more experimental songwriting, and added vocals, guitar, drums, cello, sampling and found percussion to the palate of synth-based and electronic sounds established in Book I.

The band recorded the album over the course of several weeks serving as its own engineer. At the heart, the record is improvisational, comprised of a layering of spontaneous and often one-take tracks. Using analog and digital synth, live drums, guitar, lap steel, cello and stomp boxes, the album was recorded in such a way that makes reproduction impossible. And that's the point. The Oracle is more sound than music; more sensory than stimulating. It's an album that explores the random and chaotic nature of circuitry. At times, the machine takes over, a randomized a stream of consciousness the band sought to capture. Like William S Burroughs' cut-up and shotgun art, "Once, I Had It All" is an experiment in art that generates itself. In the end, the product was something cold and distant.

Simultaneously deeply intimate and intransigent, the album asks the listener to enlist in an immersive experience.

released November 17, 2017

Once, I Had It All was performed by:



Patrick Murphy: Voice, Electronics, Synthesizer, Percussion

Bill Shaner: Engineer, Voice, Cello, Guitar, Bass, Synthesizer

Kevin Fitzgerald: Voice, Synthesizer, Lap Steel Guitar

Jesse Menard: Guitar, Bass

Zach Weeks: Mastering