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Isaac
Marions Moon Colony
Dead Children
02.03.2008
Upon first hearing the opening few tracks of “Dead
Children” I was really at a loss for words in terms
of how I was going to describe their sound and what I would
qualify as the strong or weak aspects of the album as a
whole. In truth, I really had no clue what to think of them
in the first place. To say that Isaac Marion’s Moon
Colony was my cup of tea, or right up my alley would be
entirely false, in fact. However, as the album drew on,
I found myself slowly drawn in by the churning rhythms and
slightly irregular melodies. It’s definitely not the
kind of album marketable to a mass audience, but will certainly
draw in their target crowd in droves.
To start, the mixing on “Dead Children” is nothing
short of brilliant. Although at times it feels as if there’s
almost too much going on at once, there is still a sense
of “organized chaos”, as the cliché goes.
Despite the amount of things going on at any particular
time, each sound seems to be carefully organized and well
structured throughout the duration of the album. In truth,
though, my favorite bits of the album were the much more
isolated and simplistic musical pieces. A simple driving
bassline here, a mellow piano piece there. Isaac Marion
(and indeed, his entire Moon Colony of guest musicians)
is incredibly gifted at creating and properly implementing
captivating and interesting melodies. They’re definitely
not the same kind of sing along pop melodies you’ll
hear on top forty radio, but they have the same sort of
innate ability to draw the listener in.
Vocally, many of the songs are actually reminiscent of newer
Modest Mouse, but Isaac’s much more powerful voice
(and powerful lyrics alike) as well as his diversity and
range make for a more interesting listen. The only real
difficulties I had with the album in general were that the
songs seem to blend together into on giant track. Usually
I’d praise an artist for being able to so seamlessly
and coherently blend together entirely separate sonic concepts,
but in some cases here, I could imagine where a listener
could feel slightly bored and want a more varied set with
a couple quicker pace changes to keep things interesting.
The most intriguing aspect of “Dead Children”,
however (and I realize I’ve mentioned this same concept
for a couple other bands) is the perfectly placed use of
external noises and sound effects to give the music a more
full vibe. This fits in the same general category as the
mixing in a way, but I feel the selection of backing quotes
and sound effects themselves are just as, if not more important
than the way they were seamlessly mixed in. My favorite
quote from the entire album is actually from the last track,
in which a man talking to a small child says “Do you
know why Jesus was born? To die.” Dead Children is
full of similar interesting little quirks, and they’re
what make it the solid album it is, from start to finish.
Songs to keep an ear on: “The Colonist”, “The
Saints Go Marching Out”, and “Dead Children
Talking”.
Reviewed by: Brian Anderson |
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