Review Summary: Mysticism, joyfulness, and purity combine for a musical banquet.
Though the idea of a robe-wearing, love testifying flock of musicians, combined with a nonsensical name could turn away many potential listeners who aren't insane, Edward Sharpe and his small legion have created a gorgeous record that deserves to be heard. With numerous and unashamed comparisons to chamber pop royalty
Arcade Fire, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros follow with their wildly arranged, vastly layered tracks that always keep the tracks active, and thus, interesting.
The album itself is probably comparable to how it must feel to tour with the band themselves; they tour in a multi-coloured school bus. As if it's going to burst if it doesn't get played, "40 Day Dream" begins the adventure on an exhilarating note, dominated by the catchy vocal hooks, and optimistic lyrics. '
It's the magical mystery kind!' chants the group, already citing an influence (if you recognise the reference), but by doing so simultaneously set the bar high for themselves. However, rather than jumping this bar, their diverse mix of styles practically drives them and their bus straight through it.
Up From Below is laden with rich vocal harmonies from the various band members, which at times are not dissimilar from a gospel choir, notable on songs like "Janglin" and "Carries On", however they are used in different ways, to clever effect. The harmonies on "Janglin" for example, strongly personify the uplifting feel the track gives off, whilst on "Carries On", they provide the main vocal with much more depth and power. The eclectic mix of vocals are an integral part of the group, ensuring you know this effort was from every member of this bizarre crew.
"Home" is a truly wonderful song, within which Alex Ebert (alter ego of the infamous 'Edward Sharpe') and his beloved Jade vocally play off each other, sharing verse by verse which works fantastically well; their passion for the band and also each other really shows its colours in this song. It's extremely reminiscent of the days when Johnny Cash and June Carter used to play together. Though it has a chorus to rival the joy in earlier song "Janglin"'s, "Home" secures its place as one of the album’s most essential songs with the bridge – a spoken section where Alex recalls a story to Jade about how he first fell in love with her. It sounds cheesy, but blended with their endearing accents, it's really quite a moment. It's very light-hearted. It's very fun.
It isn't all in such high spirits however, as the majority of the remainder of the album takes a darker, more serious turn. As you can imagine aptly named "Black Water" has a shady feel, but still has a wide array of instrumentation. On the other hand, "Simplest Love", as its name would also suggest simplifies their sound, lead by an acoustic guitar, backed with a bass guitar and a small amount percussion whilst the definitive vocal sings a much gloomier tune.
Admittedly the album does have its downfalls, it's not perfect. "Kisses Over Babylon" experiments with lyrics in another language, and though this definitely works well with the sound and feel of the song with its pounding dotted rhythm, the track seems to drag a fair bit. It definitely lacks the energy that some of the earlier songs were capable of. Despite this, and despite the wide assortment of styles Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros incorporate, the album still manages to weave their sound into all the songs in some way, making it less of a random jumble of songs and more of a great album. Arcade Fire, Johnny Cash, and the joy of the 60's just collided, and if that sounds mad enough for you, you’ll probably want to be part of this explosion.
