Mother Falcon is a truly huge band, both in sound and the
actual physical size of the band. Live performances have anywhere from 11 to 20
members present, each one playing their own instrument. This gives them a very
large set of instrumentation and plenty of depth in every song on You Knew.
More than
most every other symphonic rock band I know, Mother Falcon’s sound is very
orchestrally inspired. Hailing from Austin, Texas, the band’s sound spans
genres from traditional indie rock to folk to pop. Despite the band’s vast and
varied makeup and influences, You Knew has an awareness of when to slow things
down and where to trim. There is a lot of what I would describe as dramatic
buildup on this album which makes this an extremely engaging listen.
There are
also some staples of what makes gigantic bands like this so enjoyable to listen
to. Much of this is presented in the vocals. The main vocalists are band leader
Nick Gregg, Claire Puckett, and Tamir Kalifa. However, there several moments of
exhilarating group singing. These moments are used sparingly, which helps to
make these instances all the more satisfying as well as to keep the more orchestral
makeup as the band’s biggest draw. As I also mentioned before, there is a
lot to dig into on each track due to the simple fact that there are so many
parts to the Mother Falcon machine.
This band
gave possibly my favorite live concert of last year. When I saw this band they
were touring with Ben Sollee giving both their songs and his extra layers that
were integrated beautifully. This is a band that enjoys playing for and working
up a crowd. Getting to see them play live only made my enjoyment of this album
grow.
I have very little to say about this album, just because I enjoyed it and could not really find anything wrong with it. Well-written songs, catchy hooks, lovely string accompaniment, and overall attractive instrumentation. This is just a pleasant listen. Chamber pop albums are usually ones that everyone can enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI guess if I had to complain about one thing, it would be that this album is a little too dramatic for just a casual listen. It's dense with musicians, and it kind of feels like you're taking on an entire musical soundtrack when you listen to it. Kind of nitpicky, but I had to complain about something. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
From your description of this album I did not expect to like it very much, but there ended up being parts I really enjoyed. The first three songs are pretty nice. Not my favorite, just like interesting, easy to listen to, not irritating. Then about half a second into "Sleep" I wanted to die. The vocals were horrible and made me feel like I was listening to a corny musical. Luckily, that feeling only lasted from "Sleep" to "Dirty Summer" but tbh you couldn't pay me to listen to those songs again.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated the varied use of instruments, the many contributing vocalists (except the Sleep guy, fuck that guy), and the dynamic range presented in this album, but I can't say that it's something I like enough to revisit. I'm glad I listened a few times, but when I want some nice orchestral indie I'm probably just going to listen to Sufjan Stevens.