tdh Opinions Reviews Breathe

Breathe

Reviewed by Phil Stanton

I'm listening to Breathe right now, and making brief notes based on gut reactions. I may well change my mind about these later (this is the first time I've listened to the album, except for Underwater & Gravelrash which I downloaded a while ago).

Certainly the album doesn't immediately come across as being obviously MO. It sounds a lot more "mainstream". A lot of the songs remind me of other, non-MO, things. I haven't really analysed it (and I'm probably not that capable), but it sounds like there's a lot more "traditional" chord progressions & riffs going on (anyone who's checked out any of the MO songbooks will know how unusual & innovative some of the past stuff has been). I could of course be completely wrong about this.

As for some of the tracks:
Underwater - I can't really give a gut reaction since I've been listening to it for weeks, but I haven't been able to get it out of my head at all, so it's definitely got something about it.
Common Ground - is it just me, or does this sound like Pink Floyd?
Sins of Omission - the chorus sounds like something out of a traditional "rock anthem", if that makes sense.
One Too Many Times - What the hell is this? When did the Oils suddenly become a country band? Is this track just there for a joke?
Home - (the Emmylou Harris one) Actually I really like this song.
Barest Degree - Maybe it's the continuous 2-part vocal harmony, but this sounds like Crowded House to me.

This is a very different album. Peter's voice has got to be about as mellow as I've ever heard it on some tracks, especially his falsetto on In The Rain. The whole thing seems to have a more melodic, chilled out feel about it. Having read all the lyrics before listening to the album, I can definitely say that a lot of the songs are _not_ what I had imagined them to be on the basis of the lyrics, especially E-Beat and Surf's Up Tonight. I am a little concerned that I kept thinking "this sounds like ....." when I listened to it; I'm used to MO sounding like nothing else I've ever heard!

So, do I like it? Well, I don't entirely know yet. I certainly don't dislike it, but I think I want to go and listen to it a few more times. After all, when I first listened to ESM I was pretty unmoved, but it is now very high up my list of favourite MO albums.
Oh, and by the way, they don't know how to write out a URL (they've left off the // after the http: :-) )

Let the disagreements begin!

Reviewer: Phil Stanton - Powderworker