Review Summary: Atmospheric bliss.
My first experience with
Picture You was a little more intense than I would have liked. With six inches of snow on the ground and counting, I climbed in my car to make the drive to work. There was a little voice (smaller than anyone's voice of reason should be) telling me it wasn't worth it, five weeks of PTO and I'm driving in
this? The swirling snow coupled with the other struggling vehicles on the road made it seem as though The Amazing's latest release would be the last thing I'd ever hear. As I struggled to gain traction on the highway, I found my mind wandering more and more to the lush, lovely music that was pouring out of my car speakers. By the time that "To Keep It Going" began, the knot in my stomach had lessened and I was almost to the desolate parking lot. This first experience with the album not only ended up being the most eventful, it was also the most telling about what is to be found on the album.
Picture You is chock-full of beautifully layered melodies and dreamy atmosphere, providing a pleasant listen throughout the album. The main problem here is that the band all too willingly fade into the background, choosing to be pleasant echoes in the back of the listener's mind rather than demanding active participation. However, this may seem to be a harsher criticism than intended; there is still plenty that The Amazing do well on the album. The subdued funky and psychedelic qualities of the music in "Fryshusfunk" mesh perfectly with the low-key yet passionate vocals of Christoffer Gunrup. The track manages to stay engaging throughout the entirety of its seven and a half minute running time, due in no small part to the mostly instrumental second half that leads into a heavily-distorted soulful guitar solo. It comes out of nowhere, to the point where it feels like you have changed a radio station and an old blues ditty came blasting through your speakers. There are pleasant surprises like this everywhere, and the small homage to a classic rock/blues sound here and there do nothing but elevate how original the end product is.
Originality aside, there are dips in quality when the band attempt to bite off more than they can chew. Title track "Picture You" falters completely in its nine minutes, recycling the same melody aimlessly before it gets going. And even if the music didn't suffer from painful repetition on "Safe Island", the dissonant distortion that ends the track is borderline unlistenable. The longer tracks seem to be constructed intentionally so, favoring an all-encompassing atmosphere that often leaves the songs feeling disjointed, floating along without a purpose. It's this issue that pervades the entire album and ends up detracting from the soaring highlights that are present on
Picture You.
The overall feel that The Amazing is able to encapsulate ends up being nothing more than The War on Drugs-lite, but that is by no means a bad thing. It's an atmospheric take on a folksy sound, and the meshing of all genres present is clumsy, touching, and intriguing all at once. "The Headless Boy" is a gorgeous acoustic track that combines harmonization of male and female vocals with unobtrusive drums coming into the affair to give it a satisfying conclusion. "To Keep It Going" is a perfect example of the band savoring a melody for just the right amount of time, keeping the songwriting intact throughout for a gorgeous ending that makes the journey so much better. The swirling and beautiful atmosphere on closer "Winter Dress" invokes both joy and introspection, giving the album a wonderful sendoff.
I won't soon forget my first experience with this album. The ascending, quietly intense middle part of "Fryshusfunk" affected me in a surreal way as I drove past poor souls struggling to dig their cars out of the snow on exit ramps. In a strange way, this ethereal music elevated the harsh reality of the predicament I was in. And as beautiful and enveloping as the music is on
Picture You, you can bet I will be reaching for a different album the next time I decide to drive through the white death.
