A Mountain of One: Institute of Joy
A Mountain of One: Institute of Joy
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By James Christie. |  |
Wednesday, 09, Sep 2009 05:21
10 Worlds, out now.
In a nutshell...
Ambient, Chill out room, Haunting, Prog Rock.
What's it all about?
An album made up of 13 tracks in total, with Green and Purple providing short instrumental breaks from the regular tracks. Maybe I'm missing the point but even with the instrumental breaks, the album feels like one feature length recording anyway.
Who's it by?
Institute of Joy is the second album from Mo Morris and Zeben Jameson and follows the release of their single Bones. Self-produced, the album has been mixed by Guy Massey and Danton Supple.
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
This is an album that reminds me of any chill out room at a college house party. I think this is the kind of album that fans will cherish, but not for the mainstream.
So is it any good?
While Institute of Joy certainly delivers on its promise of being a musical voyage, this could also be translated as one of those trips where you seem to be driving around forever. I'm sure some people will love the intricacies of the various subtle sounds used to create the record, and the ambience of each track will lend itself perfectly to remixing and use on a chillout compilation, but I couldn't help but feel that every track felt like a long intro to what should have been an explosive climax, but instead the metre ran out just before they could record the ending and they had to loop the intro to make up time. Either that or the artists got so lost in a Pink Floyd inspired jam session and simply forgot where they were going.
Also worthy of a mention are the vocals, which sadly blend into the music and are lost amongst the complicated but very professional drum beats. Had any of the album tracks been given a more powerful approach, the lyrics and style would have brought some real emotion to the recording.
This album will certainly have its fans, and the foundations of something great are in place, but it just doesn't deliver.
5 /10
Ben Brady