Review Summary: We played hide and seek in waterfalls...
It's truly difficult to decipher exactly how Syd Matters conjures the magic found on this quaint little album. Is it the mystical harmonies? Is it the atmospheric noises? Is it Jonathan Morali's vocal delivery? The world may never now. What the world does know, however, is that this record is surely something unique. Syd's formerly underground album was introduced to most by the popular adventure game
Life is Strange, which perfectly matches the personality of the album itself: quirky but oddly passionate and endearing.
The album's first three tracks are probably its strongest, starting with the very
Nick Drake esque song "City Talks". This track excellently sets the tone for the rest of the album, serving as a lonely but warm folk piece that instantly makes a connection with the listener, almost on a inexplicably personal level. It is then followed by my favourite song on the album and my favourite song in Syd's entire discography, "Obstacles". There's something so mesmerizing about the way all of the elements drift around this track; the guitar, the subtle synths, and the calming vocals of both Jonathan and the additional voices that appear later. It all combines to create a mystifying emotional suite that isn't easily forgotten. The third track mentioned is the soothing and lovely "To All Of You", a simple but effective acoustic piece in which Jonathan wonders what the "American girls in the movies" are thinking about behind their facades.
The rest of the tracks on the album are no less gorgeous and calm, commonly following the path of Jonathan wailing about love and life over some very rich and perfectly executed instrumentation. There are some moments on the album where Jonathan leaves it up to the sorcery of the rest of the band's instrumentation to lead the way, such as during the second half of the track "Middle Class Men" and most of the impeccable final track "Motion". It's in moments like these that you realize just how good the band is at orchestrating a masterfully atmospheric background to their music.
A lot of the tracks on the album seem like they should be similar on paper (following the cliché stereotype that all folk sounds the same), but somehow with each new song Syd drags the listener back in again and sends them through an all new sensation. As aforementioned, it's this inexplicable magic that Syd brings forward on this album that makes it something different; something that can stand on its own two feet as longs at it wants. This aspect of the album very much reminds me of why
Sufjan Stevens's
Carrie & Lowell is as special as it is.
Overall,
Someday We Will Foresee Obstacles is similar to albums like
The Microphones'
The Glow Pt. 2 and
Godspeed You! Black Emperor's
Lift Your Skinny Fists, in that it's one of those albums you listen to when you're alone, peering out the window longingly and gazing at a grand landscape as you think about the mysteries of life. It has that same magic aura about it. It might not click immediately, but when it does, you've unraveled the tiny box Syd's so masterfully wrapped.
