The Beautiful Word Album Review
The Beautiful Word – Mystery Pop
Words by Alex Brady
The beautiful word, according to the English teacher in Donnie Darko, is cellar-door; but in the real work it’s simply the band I have been tasked with reviewing this week. Their album, Mystery Pop, seems to be the next in a long line of revived-folk artists that have crossed my desk, each one attempting to resurrect that gentle tone and simplistic melody with the intention of giving their music a grass-roots, hippy feel.
I didn’t hold out much hope to begin with, the opening track I Got Bored aptly describes how I felt. It was bland, uneventful and as appealing as a stale rice cake; but after that something special happened. The album morphed into a modern aged lullaby!
I’m not saying it put me to sleep, more that it reached into the depths of my mind and rocked all my worries into a gentle slumber. Their cheery atmosphere and bouncy lyrics are almost childlike, innocent and unspoiled. They somehow also present an unspoken versatility, as though they would feel equally at home performing something by Pink Floyd or Muse, but for now they maintain their composure and keep to the gentler side of music genres.
Emily Bryant and Megan Clifton, who provide the majority of the vocals, deserve particular praise for their performance. Like mythical sirens they draw you in with their beautiful chants and open hearts. The track andmines serves as testament to their power; no instruments, just their voices and their beautiful words.
That simplicity I mentioned earlier remains in their work, but it feels complicated without spoiling the album. Yes I have just contradicted myself but bear with me and think of ravioli! It sounds like a simple dish to prepare and eat, but when you consider everything that went into it, the making of the pasta, the filling, the sauce, cooking them all perfectly before devouring it then you begin to see what I mean. It feels as though a lot more thought and work than is apparent has gone into producing Mystery Pop, but only so the final product was as close to perfection as they could cook up.
8/10
