And the award for the least catchy album title ever goes to... John Maus– the American avant-garde musician and composer who has two, yes two PHD’s. Multi skilled Maus also plays keyboard in Panda Bear, Ariel Pink and Animal Collective and has released three solo albums thus far, all of which have gained him some major cult status. He cites Medieval and Gregorian disco as key influences - I bet that’s something you’ve never heard before.
This isn’t your typical album, and Maus isn’t your typical musician. He has a very dissentient approach to what he does. When I first played the album, Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Emperors’ New Clothes’ instantly sprung to mind. The album cherry picks the best tracks from his 11-year career with two new and unheard ones thrown in: ‘Lost’ and ‘Angel Of The Night’.
‘Castles in the Grave’ is very Bowie/ Human League. ‘Big Dumb Man’ conjures up the image of Maus sat alone in his basement executing his demons, and having a right old go at himself. ‘Lost’ (a new track) is pretty comical, sounding much like the musical creation of a crackpot intellectual, again the image of a crazy professor bashing away at the piano springs to mind. ‘All Aboard’ is soaring synth pop, and in my opinion Maus’s finest hour.
‘This is the Beat’ is possibly the most annoying song I have ever heard, you won’t even know the meaning of the word repetitive until you’ve heard this one. There are many points in this album where it seems Mausis somewhat of a tortured genius, and an equal amount where he just seems downright mad.
This album sounds like the soundtrack to Quantum Leap or some other grainy 80’s VHS sitcom, which I thinks’ rather cool. Maus wears his influences on this sleeve and you can’t help but compare his signing style with that of Ian Curtis. There is many a moment where there seems to be little method to his madness, or just maybe that’s the beauty of it...
No comments:
Post a Comment