Mutual Benefit - Love's Crushing Diamond (2013)

Earlier this year at FMLY Fest Brooklyn, I had the great pleasure to witness Mutual Benefit in action. I was transfixed and ultimately transformed - Jordan Lee's warm tenor enveloped me like a tender hug while his dreamy soundscapes transported me light years away from the crowded room at The Silent Barn. It was the type of experience I've always attributed to great music but rarely found myself feeling. When Mutual Benefit announced that several of those songs from that set would make their way onto a record soon out for release, I was ecstatic at the notion that I'd be able to relive that moment pretty much infinitely at my leisure. Fast forward months and the single release of the magical "Advanced Falconry" later and Love's Crushing Diamond was born.

Love's Crushing Diamond isn't just the culmination of years of musical ideas and collaborations, it's a rite of passage in the most unironic of ways; a life philosophy forged in the crucible of worthwhile experiences and put forth in the most accessible of ways. Featuring a remarkably similar sonic palette all throughout, Love's Crushing Diamond is a record that builds upon itself - each song seems an extension of the thoughts covered in the song before it as coherent in its narrative as it is in its textures. Unsurprisingly, it's a record that recalls itself especially in "Strong Swimmer", the cathartic release/album ender which references opener "Strong River". Perhaps due to its notable folk influences, the songwriting strikes a perfect balance between wondrous nature imagery and tales of personal growth.  


Love's Crushing Diamond is a record of selfless sincerity; raw and heartfelt but utterly life-affirming. Jordan Lee's dreamy folk pop styling are the perfect guise for the absolutely beautiful soul-searching and soul-bearing that occurs on the record. It's never overt, little lines here and there, that when combined form a little map to the album's earnest journey of pure feeling. To its benefit, Love's Crushing Diamond isn't trying to be a life-changing record, it's just the thoughts and sounds of Jordan Lee and friends artfully arranged with the purest of intentions and love of songcraft that resonates with the listener. Love's Crushing Diamond is a stunning masterpiece where it's labors of love are wildly apparent; elevating it from your standard pop record to one of astonishing beauty and worth. It's a record I know I'll return to over and over as will anyone lucky enough to get it in their ears. Hopefully that's as many people as humanly possible.

Listen to Mutual Benefit's Love's Crushing Diamond now:

Pitstop: Emily Reo

(photo by Charlotte Zoller)

Considering I've known about her for almost a year to the day, I probably should've mentioned dream pop chanteuse Emily Reo far sooner. After getting caught in her undeniable wave of feel good melodic haze at  DelinquencyNYC last August and reliving the magic a couple months ago at FMLY Fest Brooklyn, not immediately sharing Emily Reo with the uninitiated is probably one of the biggest flubs I could make.

Normally the stuff of plentiful, intricately lain layers and unfathomable depths of beauty, Emily Reo sets herself apart from your standard dream-pop artists/bands with a rather brazen but enjoyable simplicity. Relying almost resolutely on infectious melodies, Reo may set them aloft on undulating seas of sounds of her own design but they are always the focus - percolating above creamy synth counter melodies  or toe-tapping, song-leading beats. The beauty of Reo's songs come from this and the fact that she uses her voice as another instrument for her to play with and alter like in "Coast" when she effects her vocals. Never quite becoming robotic, they shift between organic and digitized.  

It's a trope employed rather frequently that never quite loses it's appeal due to the fact that Emily Reo places such high importance on melodies - often having songs composed almost entirely of musical interludes with the vocals playing an important but more diminished, less featured role. Calm, lilting, and silky smooth, Reo really leans into the dream-invoking part of her dream-pop, crafting sleepy gently unfurling little numbers that even at their poppiest and most catchy, never manage to agitate and that's just the way I like it.

    

Emily Reo will finally be releasing her debut album Olive Juice on September 3rd via Elestial Sound. It's sure to be an absolute gem. Until then you can listen to the Emily Reo's wide berth of tunes via Bandcamp. 

Listen: Mutual Benefit - "Advanced Falconry"

I've made absolutely no secret about the fact that Boston dream-pop maestro Mutual Benefit was far and above one of my favorite discoveries at FMLY Fest Brooklyn. Unaware of what I was in for, I was rewarded with aural bliss - a silky smooth and comfortable blanket of sound. One of my favorite songs of the set featured violinist Jake Falby called "Advanced Falconry" and apparently I can now listen to it whenever I want!



No longer do I have to just imagine what it felt like or seek out live videos. I can now download the first cut from Mutual Benefit's upcoming full length Love's Crushing Diamond and just bliss out wherever - on walks out in nature, in the dark in my room on a warm summer night, at picnics, at grad parties, you name it - I will be playing "Advanced Falconry" there. This is simply the best news. I urge you to listen to arrestingly beautiful track because it's more awe-inspiring than words can possibly express. Here's hoping details about Mutual Benefit's upcoming full length come out soon because if there's more songs like "Advanced Falconry" on it, I would like to own them.

 

The Shakin' Babies - Stoked Casual (2013)

Considering that FMLY mostly seems to cater to electronic aficionados, I was surprised and delighted that one of the first bands to open FMLY Fest Brooklyn was The Shakin' Babies.  The Minneapolis fivesome play jangly garage rock with a notable twist; an inescapable doo-wop punch. It's old fashioned rock 'n roll with a more modern lyrical take.

"Mary Wants to Rock" takes the more traditional rock approach - a story of an uptight god-fearing girl seduced by rock n' roll (a very real fear in its heyday) while "Katrina" and "Dreams of You" are more of the doo wop fare. They're pleasant and enjoyable. Where Shakin' Babies and Stoked Casual really shine though is when they update the typical with far more modern or usual conventions. Devil-dealing "Shake Hands", feisty rabble-rousing "Wait a Minute", or drug-fueled "Blue Sky Blondes" are the album's real gems; the hints that Stoked Casual isn't some mere leftover from that bygone era. In an album built on rock n' roll conventions tracks like "Wait a Minute"and "Easy Meal" that pair singer Jess Olsen's powerhouse vocals with the bands propensity for fun, tuneful jams are much appreciated.

All in all, Stoked Casual is a pretty great album. It's tracks are short and to the point, pay proper homage to their inspirations without merely replicating them, and just damn good. Stoked Casual is an album you can listen to endlessly and never get tired of - it's melodies are simple and memorable and the jams are the stuff contemporary rock bands tend to lack. Thankfully there's bands like The Shakin' Babies that have no problem mining music history to show them all how it's done.

You can listen/download The Shakin' Babies' Stoked Casual via their record label's Bandcamp.

Pitstop: Mutual Benefit

If you've ever wished Bibio had more songs like "Lovers' Carvings" or that North Highlands leaned a little harder into their folk influence then Boston's Mutual Benefit should be right up your alley. During his set at Day 2 of this year's FMLY Fest Brooklyn, I was completely and utterly transfixed. It was had to believe so many sounds could come out of one man but that's exactly what Jordan Lee's live set consisted of. Sure he had assistance from violinist Jake Falby to add an extra layer of beautiful ornaments but for the most part Mutual Benefit is all Jordan. A labor of obvious love that radiates from the very music itself.

Whether acoustic or amped up, Mutual Benefit's dreamy folk-infused experimental pop manages to invoke the same sort of awe, unfolds the same soothing blanket of comforting thrall regardless of its presentation. Through a shifting multitude of instruments (guitar, banjo, synth), Jordan Lee's poetic lyricism comes to life among minimal textural landscapes. Their power is in their lack of verbosity and the way they're so incredibly intertwined with the music they're set to. Take "Auburn Epitaphs" and its serpentine stretch; the words so incredibly reliant/compliant with the weaving melody.



Also impressive is the way Mutual Benefit's live set transcends his recordings. Perhaps due to more limited resources of whatever Lee and whoever he rounds up to play with him can carry/touch, the live show unfurls in a remarkably different manner than the recordings. "Desert Island Feeling" goes from a sort of synthy jam to an atmospheric loop of slow shimmering beauty. "The Cowboy's Prayer" becomes an Aaron Copland-recalling percussive ramble.

Of all the sets I saw at FMLY Fest Brooklyn, Mutual Benefit's was perhaps the most enthralling, the most transforming. And listening to his music it's not hard to see why. Jordan Lee crafts dazzling musical moments that border on the magical. They're enjoyable but also affecting. Pleasant and simple but inspiring a complex array of thoughts and feelings. But really it all just comes down to Jordan Lee's ability to blend electronics and folk without losing any heart.