Chimera is the second (and final!?) single from Snarky Puppy’s upcoming album “Somni,” and audio was recently released on streaming platforms with the video on YouTube. The full album is scheduled to be released November 21st.
Here’s my review of this breathtaking track and the accompanying video. I was in the room for all the recording sessions in Utrecht back in January 2025. You can read about that experience here – Somni: A Dreamlike Experience. Chimera is the most unique cut on an album of ‘dreams’ as the standalone ‘nightmare.’ It was/is the third track on the album and here’s how I described it at the time.
“(The Nightmare) – For anyone that attended any of the sessions, Dream 3 is likely the most memorable. It is the darkest and most metalesque track, featuring a heavy horn and brass intro. Michael introduces it as the bad dream or nightmare that occurs when someone or something is doing something that they’re not expected to do. He had various explanations for it, but it is most differentiated by its darker tone. I believe here, Bobby also has some major clavinet solo time and I was looking directly at him in the first session.”
Chimera does in fact start out with the chilling brass blasts from all of the Snarky horns and MO sections! There’s the scene of the gong being pounded, and there’s actually an ominous thunder-like sound before Chris Bullock’s soft juxtaposing flute solo, the calm before the storm, when the MO comes back in full force. The drumming and percussion are more staggered, much like the overall theme. Bob Lanzetti has the eerie guitar solo, perhaps honed when he soundtracked a ‘Nosferatu’ album recently. The middle section reminds me of a giant clock ticking away, perhaps in a haunted castle. There’s Michael League rocking in the center, and then the strings herald the introduction of Bobby Sparks’ monster clavinet solo. Michael League jokingly referenced the outsized role of the “Corsicana Cowboy,” Bobby Sparks, on clavinet here, and you can see him in the center of the humongous room in the star position wearing the white cowboy hat!
The end features the ever-spooky strings with the giant drum and percussion blasts that then slows down with the horn section, strings, and drums. The fade-out is incredible with Jules Buckley and JT Thomas on drums timing it just so as it becomes inaudible. It’s absolutely magical!
“Chimera” evokes a mischievous, volatile dream in which the subconscious runs free. “It’s kind of in between a nightmare and a dream where you observe yourself doing things you’re too shy or reserved to do in real life,” League says. The finale layers four grooves—each in a different key and tempo, assigned to different sections of the orchestra and drum set players. “That was by far the hardest thing we did on the whole record,” he notes. “It’s hard for good musicians to not listen to each other.”
– SnarkyPuppy.com