Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love (2015)

Unknown Mortal Orchestra, ex-Mint Chicks front man Ruban Nielson’s offshoot project are quickly generating a strong musical cannon, and with it a large following, as they continue to make diverse and interesting sounding indie and psychedelic pop. The band’s first two albums “Unknown Mortal Orchestra” and “Unknown Mortal Orchestra II” were two solid first up efforts, however, their latest release “Multi-Love” trumps both of these as they explore new sounds in the form of funk, jazz and soul.

“Multi-Love” has quite an old-school authentic vibe to it both in terms of its sound and instrumentation. It has a very strong rhythmic feel in the drums and bass, while the added addition of horns and keyboards means this album has quite a poppy, almost Motown feel to it in places. This is a different path for the band, as previously their music held firm to that indie pop/dreamy psychedelic line, which I might add they did very effectively. But this new direction they have taken on this album is so damn catchy and sound so, so good. This is a late-60s/early-70s sound to my ears, but produced in a very contemporary fashion, I guess also highlighting Nielson’s skills as a producer more than anything and his strong ability to get the right sound for each song he composes.

The album kicks off with the title track “Multi-Love”. This is quite a poppy song and in the opening vocals has shades of early Queen, while that piano riff which drives the whole song is so effective, indicating also straight off the bat the funkier direction this album will head down. This is followed by “Like Acid Rain” which takes a more lo-fi direction, and as a track is very similar to their previous work. Next are two of the catchier tunes on the album in the form of “Ur Life One Night” and “Can’t Keep Checking My Phone”. These two tracks are perfect for the dance floor and I can see clubs going off to these with their dance-heavy beats, funk grooves and pop melodies. At this midway point of the album, things change direction again with the alternative jazz of “Extreme Wealth and Casual Cruelty”. This is a great track which shuffles along nicely before suddenly out of nowhere the jazz horns come in and you are instantly hit by their infectiousness. This is UMO doing their take on 80s sophisti-pop, where saxophones reigned supreme, and although some might accuse Neilson of sax crimes here, I think the added presence of horns shows how Nielson is willing to try new sounds and experiment when the song demands it. This is followed by “The World is Crowded”, a track with a pounding funky bass line, and what I would call the weakest track on the album “Stage or Screen”. The album then winds down with the psychedelic funk of the fantastically good “Necessary Evil”, one of the best tracks on the album, and finally album closer “Puzzles”, another track which resembles more closely the sound of their past material.

“Multi-Love” is a fantastic record and I congratulate Nielson for again evolving UMO’s sound and experimenting on this album. There are some seriously good tunes here which might even attract the band some new followers, while I am pretty sure these new songs will be great when performed live. UMO seem to be getting better with each new release they put out and “Multi-Love” proves this yet again in what is one of the catchiest pop/funk/soul/jazz/psychedelia albums you will hear all year. Listen to it now, you will not be disappointed.

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- Sam  

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Unknown Mortal Orchestra II (2013)

Unknown Mortal Orchestra are an American-New Zealand indie, psychedelic, alternative band which was started by ex-Mint Chicks singer Ruban Neilson in 2010. Neilson is accompanied on this venture by Jacob Portrait on bass and Greg Rogove on drums. And, after a solid debut in 2011 with their self-titled first album, the band has gone from strength to strength on their second outing, 2013s Unknown Mortal Orchestra II.

The band’s sound is what I would describe as being trippy neo-indie pscyhedelia, which comes right in the middle of a psychedelic rock/pop revival that seems to be in vogue these days. Although this album is not just about psychedelic music, and the music seems to go in all sorts of directions with funk, soul, prog rock and folk just some of the styles that have a heavy presence on the record, while a steady hip hop backbeat appears on most of the tracks as well. With quite an eclectic mix of styles, it is probably also suitable that the production of the album is quite lo-fi overall, something which brings to the fore the wonderful pop melodies, multi-layered psychedelic sounds and melancholic tones in Neilson’s falsetto vocals. Aside from his great vocals, Neilson’s guitar playing is also a strong feature on this album and although he is in no way a virtuoso, he does manage to mix his playing up between a more delicate textured style of playing, with a heavily distorted attack and the occasional baroque sounding flourishes.

As for the tracks themselves, well the album starts off brilliantly with “From the Sun”, a song which has an indie folk feel to it initially with some acoustic finger picking, before moving into a psychedelic pop track setting the tone for the direction of the rest of the album. This is followed by “Swim and Sleep” another psychedelic pop track which this time showcases Neilson’s diverse guitar playing with a baroque sounding guitar motif. The triple-whammy of great songs to start the album ends with one of the album’s best tracks in “So Good at Being in Trouble” which has a prog-rock undertone to it and as a song just floats along effortlessly allowing the listener to get lost in its melancholic beauty.

Things change direction again on “One at a Time” which has a bit of a funky feel to it with its heavily distorted funky guitar riff and drums, and sounds as if it could easily have been a demo for an early Funkadelic album or something similar. And, then its back again to psychedelia on the next track “The Opposite of Afternoon” which has more of a jam feel to it compared to the other tracks on the album with an extended instrumental break during the second half of the track. It is then at this point that the album begins to drift a little bit with a couple of lengthy psychedelic tracks which appear to just fill space more than anything in “Monki” and “No Need for a Leader”. This slight lul in the album is followed by the totally unnecessary token one minute instrumental “Dawn”. It is fair to say I have never understood why artists decide to include on albums totally pointless short instrumentals like this one, as they don’t add anything musically, while leaving the listener confused as to what they are hearing as they reach for the skip button. Luckily this slight drop in the middle of the album is not permanent and the album ends on a high with the psychedelic riff lade track “Faded in the Morning” which wouldn’t have sounded out of place in 1967, and finally album closer and candidate for song of the album “Secret Xtians” which has a very infectious groove especially in the bass and drum parts.

Overall, in conclusion I would say this album is a fantastic psychedelic pop album and betters the group’s first up effort which in itself was a great album. The tracks here are groovy and melodic, and combine psychedelic pop with other styles such as folk and even classical brilliantly in a blender of musical goodness. Unknown Mortal Orchestra II is perfect listening material for summer, but would also do very nicely as a tonic through the cold winter months. Definitely one of the albums of 2013, and I cannot wait to see where they go to next. 

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- Sam