Customer Reviews

Morehappyness

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Fantasic! The Nevins have taken the tight songs of Pedels and the experments of Pelo and fused them into a wonderfully fresh album.

The first seven tracks find the group up to typically wonderful tricks: this time, they have taken 60s Bacharach chord changes and buffered them with a modern techno-smoothness. The shine is always there, but one look underneath shows that the Nevins writing and arranging has only gotten more detailed and layered. Sound after sound hides in subtle little pockets.

Then comes Blimpine Serpinietine. Just when the Bossa Nova riff has penatrated your skin and you are snuggling with Sergio '66 vocabulary , the band bursts into dissodent, synthasized, chromatic chord changes that Gentle Giant could have cooked. This is an untried attack for the Nevins, but the suprise is breathtaking. The Aluminums are not only ready to go to new places, but conqour them before they even show up.

I don't know where they are going next, but I know I am on board.

these guys are just getting better and better, despite their limited audience. but it takes a sophisticated pop lover to really appreciate what the AG are doing. sonically, as they themselves have stated, their sound is that perfect carpety experience of classic FM radio. remember listening to bacharach and captain & teneil while growing up in the 70s? well, much of their music will prick those old, dusty neural patterns of yesteryear. which isn't to say later generations can't enjoy this as well. ever since their album Pelo, AG has been steadily incorporating more and more electronica into their mix, and in this their latest offering, they've reached new heights of classic, layered vocal & guitar pop seamlessly integrated with digital and analog-sounding electronica. check out the track "without erte." wow, what a cool drum riff put down by john mcentyre (sic?) of tortoise and that whole chicago sound movement. there's more of an 80s new wave feel introduced into this album and i think it works beautifully. and as usual their lyrics are wittily urbane and winkingly referential yet warm and genuine, and, yes, even wise. the navin bros. are having fun, but are deadly serious, too. it makes for a great listening experience.

I've been an Aluminum fan for a few albums and generally Aluminum has been offering something new to the table but this time around the music is fine but it's very forgettable. I only found 1 song on this album really worth mentioning, being 'Wheat and Bare' which actually sounds a lot like David Sylvian.

The rest of the songs aren't bad, it's just they are only "good enough". There's nothing really worth getting excited about or make you want to listen to over and over. My suggestion, go buy "Happyness" if you want a similar sounding album that has something more to offer than easy to digest songs that lack substance. This album simply lacks the interesting singing found on previous Aluminum releases. This album sounds more like tracks that didn't make the cut for "Happyness", and really aren't worth checking out as an Aluminum fan or general music consumer.

I feel this album is 2 1/2 stars but because I disagree with the high overall average this album is getting, I'm rounding this down to 2 stars.

As an Aluminum Group fan, I am following the Happyness Trilogy with great interest -- it may turn out to be the Berlin Trilogy of our time. Like Bowie in the late 70s, the Navins are getting further and further away from the wistful, subdued balladry of Wonder Boys and the sprightly art-pop of Plano and Pedals. I admire them for being daring and unafraid to utterly confound their listeners' expectations. These admirers of Marcel Duchamp are clearly making music that is not for easy or disposable consumption, and I applaud that.

But do they go too far? Chilly, inorganic, disaffected, and disturbing, More Happyness is not the record I would recommend to anyone who is unacquainted with the Aluminum Group's magic. This is surely their acquired-taste record. After listening to it a few times, I found the songs growing on me, and the production filled with subtle and thrilling effects. The best tracks seem to be the tuneful "Mister Butterfly"; the woozy tribute to the ill-starred Phil Ochs; the Kraftwerkian "W/O the Erte"; "Little Boy," a brief throwback to their former snide-and-sincere romanticism; and a surprising, gorgeous piano-ballad with gospel (!) undertones, "Wheat and Tare."

They remain, as always, great and brilliant musicians. I just miss two elements of their style. First, that endearing snideness that used to surface in lines like "as far as I'm concerned you can work it out with somebody else" (on the first Happyness), and which seemed to suggest a will to survive all the heartache. The persistent lay-down-and-die mood of More Happyness becomes a little enervating by the end of the album, although I suppose that was a big part of the concept. Second, the background vocals of Liz Conant, who always added a sort of sweetening.

This is part two of an proposed trilogy and it's even more
stronger than "Happyness." The songs arrangements are a
little more adventurous but a tad darker than there previous
effort. However, the striking thing is all the songs seemed
to really shine on their own. There's even some songs you could
call mainstream rock tracks which is very rare for this group.
Well Done again!