The Impossible Shapes
Laughter Fills Our Hollow Dome
Mr. Whiggs / Luna
This disc opens up with one of the most memorable and catchy tracks I’ve encountered in quite a while. While the opening track should set the tone for an album and clue the listener into the aesthetics and feel for the band, most musicians fail to adequately select or simply lack the talent to choose their tracks. Not here, gentle readers, this opening track, “Sounds to Charge the Wind,” is a nice blend of harmonies, with a folk-pop melody and a wealth of backing instruments, most noticeably, the trumpet. However, with the bar raised so high, and with this reviewer captivated by the opening track, could the band maintain this high level of excellence? The answer is a qualified yes. Of the fourteen tracks here, a solid majority are excellent, creative and evocative. Pop music is about heart and feeling and it is not brain surgery. To really resonate with a listener, one has to have the imagination and flair to present the music in a way wholly new and with some panache. The Impossible Shapes are capable of pulling it off due to their talent, creativity and skills on multiple instruments. Sounding a bit like the bands affiliated with Elephant 6 collective, The Impossible Shapes, however, retain a singular vision that eschews self-referential pretension that mars some of those bands work. Instead, they blend careful attention to details in their songs that reinforce both the lyrics (sometimes disturbing) as well as the melody. The songs are never oblique for the sake of being oblique. Rather, the songs reflect a unique awareness of life and experience that are manifested in lyrics that often center on themes of voyage, traveling, disorientation and a world being slowly consumed by decay. The melodies often match these themes through the winding groans of the accordion or through the use of organs and pianos. Altogether this is a solid album that would appeal to those listeners who prefer the more adventurous strands of pop music.
Luna Music: http://www.lunamusic.net • Mr. Whiggs: http://www.whiggs.com
