Chocolate Genius (aka Mark Thompson) created a laid-back and slightly groovy album with
Godmusic. A lot of music critics refer to his music as either soul or R&B, this is true but there are also obvious traces of electronica, trip-hop and jazz spread sparingly throughout the album. He subtly blends all of these genres together while keeping an extremely relaxing and chilled out atmosphere. That being said
Godmusics main focus is on Thompsons soul-filled and relaxing vocals, the listener may be able to pick out the different instruments and genres found throughout the album but they all take a backseat to Thompsons vocals.
The music found on
Godmusic is very simple. Thompson will lay down a nice, clicky beat and then proceed to sing over it with his lazy, jazz influenced voice. Every track has a slow and steady tempo that adds onto the chilled out, organic vibe of the album. A good portion of these songs range from about three to four minutes long, almost all of them start off simple and then Thompson adds on an instrument or two towards the end.
Godmusic isn’t exactly a depressing album yet it’s very solemn and calm. Songs such as
The Eyes of the Lord and
Pocket Mouse are solely built off of groovy guitar licks and vocals, the music can tend to get quite repetitive and that’s what hurts the album. Although I originally said that Chocolate Genius blends a ton of genres together it’s too subtle to make much of a difference. There are few tracks that stand out amongst the bunch, the jazzy keyboard clicking of
Pocket Man is neat as well as the upbeat guitar riffs of
My Endless Fall but it’s just not enough.
Godmusic is certainly not a generic album but sometimes Thompson retreats to the same type of formula a little to often.
However the big problem with
Godmusic is that there is nothing here that will keep you coming back for more. It lacks both the intensity and cohesiveness of Thompsons earlier effort,
Black Music. Nothing really stands out and after a while you will begin to realize that Thompson resorts to the same old beats, strange keyboard textures, and melodies that he started off the album with. I must admit that Thompson has an interesting approach as he mixes soulful vocals with trip-hop beats but the music isn’t very bizarre or strange. Even when he does add instruments into the music it’s almost to subtle to even notice and you’re left with many half developed and similar tracks.
I can’t personally recommend this album to anybody because it’s hard to classify yet it’s also boring and stale. It’s a nice album to listen to if you want to relax but it’s also extremely dull.
Godmusic would have been a more complete listen if Thompson added on a few more original ideas to his already interesting approach. The production is also another weak point as it is very dry since you can barely identify the subtle instrument changes. Although
Godmusic is a jazz/electronica tinged soul album it’s not nearly as interesting as it sounds. Thompsons laid-back tone gets tiresome after a few listens and the recycled beats don’t help either. Call it whatever you will but
Godmusic is just a dreary, bland, and uninspiring listen from beginning to end.
