Kaelie Macaulay
Copy Editor
Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s bold attempt to reinvent their sound in the midst of their period of greatest success ultimately leaves audiences nostalgic for the band’s previous style.
Straying from their typical mellow indie rock sound, Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s latest album, “IC-01 Hanoi” is purely instrumental, forcing listeners to develop their own meaning from the tracks. Despite being uncomfortable at times due to the increasing anxious nature of the songs, Unknown Mortal Orchestra produces an emotional album, leaving audiences with a combined sense of wonder and anxiety, but ultimately fails in its attempt to reconstruct the band’s style.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra is a New Zealand rock band based in Portland, Oregon. The group is currently composed of singer, guitarist and songwriter Ruban Nielson, and bassist Jake Portrait. The group gained popularity with their hit song “Multi-Love” in May 2015, and the song was A-listed at BBC’s 6 Music.
Produced by the music label, Jagjaguwar, and released on Oct. 26, “IC-01 Hanoi” consists of 7 instrumental tracks and is the band’s sixth album to date. Named after Hanoi, Vietnam, where the album was recorded, the set features various Vietnamese artists like Minh Nguyen and Ðàn Môi, as well as a full percussion group.
The omission of lyrics from the album forces listeners to forge their own meaning from a sea of instrumentals. Although the concept of allowing audiences to gather their own ideas is original, “IC-01 Hanoi” ultimately fails to execute the encouragement of listener’s interpretive independence effectively.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra pays tribute to Vietnamese culture by featuring a Vietnamese flute, which exposes listeners to the stylistic qualities of culturally specific music. The tracks successfully encapture the world in which Unknown Mortal Orchestra was living when the album was being recorded.
To compensate for the lack of lyrics, Unknown Mortal Orchestra uses instrumentals such as drumbeats to give each song its own distinct emotion. As the album progresses, each track becomes increasingly more agitated as the sound becomes unbalanced as a result of the underlying melody. The progression effectively takes listeners on an emotional journey, but due to the anxious nature of the ending tracks, listeners are unable to relax and immerse themselves in the instrumentals.
However, although the instrumentals are often uncomfortable, Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s ability to leave listeners with a mixed feeling of wonder and anxiety proves the emotional poignancy of the album, which can be extremely difficult to achieve without lyrics. Due to the combination of melodies, rhythms and drumbeats, the album effectively portrays heartfelt emotions despite being awkward at times.
Ultimately, Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s brave attempt to reinvent their sound during the period greatest profits proves to be adequate, but ultimately leaves audiences wishing for the band’s old style.
“IC-01 Hanoi” was released on Oct. 26 and is available for streaming on platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify.
Leave a Reply