Review Summary: Morning View finds Incubus at a perfect crossroads on this progression of maturity and creativity. The album continues the alt-rock orientation that Make Yourself started, but adds more depth in its musicianship, dynamics and songwriting.
Incubus have never been a stagnant band, and for better or worse they have altered their sound and approach for every release. Their first major release, S.C.I.E.N.C.E, was an aggressive and impressively creative album that spanned genres of metal, funk and jazz – sometimes blending together and sometimes put in stark juxtaposition. Make Yourself brought the band commercial success as the band dropped much of its nu-metal influence and moved more toward an alt-rock radio friendly sound. Subsequent releases by Incubus have taken many turns in sound and experimentation with varying success. Morning View seems to find the band at a perfect crossroads on this progression of maturity and creativity. The album continues the alt-rock orientation that Make Yourself started, but adds more depth in its musicianship, dynamics and songwriting.
The first three songs on the album continue the alt-rock leanings of the previous album, integrating the phased volume swells, turntable scratching, beefy bass and memorable choruses that were featured in the previous release. “Wish You Were Here” is the first single on the album and rightfully so. The song is a perfect summary of the entire album, and in my opinion a song that still embodies what makes a song sound like an Incubus song. Mike Ezinger plays a dreamy, delay-soaked guitar line as the drums and bass rumble subtly in the background and Boyd paints a picture of a sandy beach under a clear night’s sky. The whole band then jumps in strong for the rousing chorus before quickly switching back to the quieter verse. The use of dynamics and layering of small details such as DJ Kilmore’s scratching and ambient electronic effects elevate this song from what would be a typical alternative rock song to something much more memorable. The album as a whole is successful in a similar fashion. The fourth track on the album, “Just A Phase” backs off the tempo and dynamics and slowly builds to what will no doubt be a massive chorus. Instead, the song builds up to a peak, only to suddenly drop back down again. The song continues, re-building its intensity to the same point, this time paying off in an explosion of energy that carries out the song to the end.
The contrast of loud and soft, aggression and restraint, light and dark continue for the entire album both in the song writing and the track order. This makes the album very pleasurable to listen through as each song compliments the song before and after it very well. While the second half of the album does not seem as strong as the first, the unexpected and beautiful closer Aqueous Transmission makes up for this as it carries the listener away with its peaceful melody and fades away to croaking frogs – recorded from outside the beach-side studio where the album was recorded in Malibu, CA.
The heavier tracks such as Circles, Blood on The Ground, and Under My Umbrella are successful on their own merit but made even better as they are preceded or followed by quiet and more restrained tracks such as 11am, Mexico, and Aqueous. In general, the album is softer and more restrained than the bands other releases, but by backing off and giving the songs more room to breathe, the album has more contrast than Make Yourself and when it does kick into overdrive, it does so with more effect.
The musicianship on this album, as is almost always the case with Incubus, is a step above their alt-rock peers. Frontman Brandon Boyd continues to deliver interesting if not compelling lyrics, and sounds natural whether he is shouting through an aggressive rock section or brooding over an acoustic guitar ballad. Guitarist Mike Ezinger has really come into his own as a defining piece of the bands sound by crafting unique guitar riffs and effects that would be sorely missed were another guitarist to fill the role. This album marks the last for Dirk Lance with Incubus, who up until this album has had an equally heavy hand defining the bands sound. While his bass playing still compliments this album extremely well, it is evident that he had to dial back the aggressive funk influence that stood out so much in the previous albums (particularly S.C.I.E.N.C.E) in order to fit Morning View. Jose Pasillas provides a wonderful balance of touch, technicality and power on drums and DJ Kilmore adds an array of scratching and electronic effects that help make each track easily recognizable as Incubus.
Morning View may not be what fans expected after Make Yourself, but instead of a strict continuation of that sound Incubus transformed it into something much more dynamic and memorable. For a rock or alt-rock fan I would recommend this album as a gateway into Incubus as well as an essential album from the last decade.
Recommended Tracks
-Circles
-Wish You Were Here
-Just A Phase
-Blood on the Ground
-Aqueous Transmission
