This project soon shows itself to be the perfect go-to for the thinkers and dreamers who utilize time alone when coming to terms with the world. To listen at volume is the most effective way.
Music
The performance aspect of this best-of collection from Mr. Strange is undoubtedly what gives it such a multi-layered, colourful and unpredictable aura. When you fuse that with the lyrics and stories that lie within, you quite quickly come to understand why the band gave themselves this name.
FargoneWorld makes music artistically – whatever the moment needs, that’s what it gets. It’s hip hop for sure but there are so many other layers involved.
It’s the sound of a band who are naturally inclined to do this – you can hear it in every flicker of character that is the riffs and the voice and the melody and the lyricism. Things build up effectively from the verse to the hook, and that rising energy represents well the underlying inspiration for the song.
What begins as a simple, ambient piece of music and performance, acoustic and spacious, nearly whispered yet melodically beautiful in itself, soon evolves to become something incredibly passionate; and quite striking in a whole new way.
The unison between the riffs and the vocal melody is quite stunning, and with that an overwhelming sense of space allows the central strengths of the music and its concept to stand tall in a natural and beautiful way.
It’s a rather poignant and relevant topic in today’s world – the age of Instagram and image-led success – perhaps songs and art of this nature will help remind us all of the real value in life, and the qualities and beauties that we can indeed hold on to.
Jason Bembry’s voice on this latest release melts the heart in an instant. You Should Have Known is a classically warm, organic ballad with a slightly jazz and soul infused aura. It’s a song that grows from mildly familiar to unexpectedly brilliant by the half way point, and things continue to embrace the listener right through to the end.
Both tracks are superbly performed, written with care, and produced to a quality that allows you to really turn up the speakers and let go of the world for a while.
As the first few moments of music start to pour through, it’s clear that this is a beautifully unique, creative, melodic and mighty piece of writing and performance – the sort that follows its own rules to great effect.
Norway’s SIENNÁ returns this year with a post-six-minute offering that is the ambient and conceptual What Matters. The song takes its time to work through the various ideas within – this appears as a necessary artistic process for the songwriter, rather than a simple attempt to gather an audience and entertain.
It’s an accessible concept, one that many listeners will be able to relate to, and the way the music has balanced a somewhat melancholy, heartbroken truth with an uplifting and energizing soundscape is beautifully addictive.