The
Melody
Unit - Choose Your Own Adventure
 Artist:
The Melody Unit
Title: Choose Your Own Adventure
Catalog#: AHA!027
Price: $10.00 
|
Tracks
on this CD: |
| Suite
For Ceasar |
| Go
(Or Not Go) |
| Kona
Song |
| April
New Year |
| Prepare
the Juggernaut |
| Nine |
| Welcome
Back Tomorrow |
| Snoqualmie |
| Nutation
1 |
|
|
Kevin Kelly: guitars, vocals Mark Salvadalena: drums Tim Kappert: bass Jessica
Folsom: vocals Peter Lynch: keyboards Zach Thompson: rhythm guitar
"The Melody Unit allow their fuzzy sound to bleed outside the lines… takes
the psychedelic ether of the Electric Prunes, and makes it into a chiming, whirring,
floating pop masterpiece… Vocalist Jessica Folsom is the embodiment of ethereal
lust- breathy and drowsy and high as a kite on
Mars" --- PUNCTURE
Choose Your Own Adventure, The Melody Unit's second full-length album, following
up 1999's well-regarded Odds Against Tomorrow CD, contains the band's
signature tight weave of interlocking melodies. Their sumptuous space-pop-folksongs
are surrounded by a lush ambience and wrapped in dense layers of blissful keys,
lotsa guitars, and sighing male and female dream-voices. Vocalist Jessica Folsom
has that seductive Julie Cruise (Twin Peaks) sensuality. Her alto and Kevin Kelly's
baritone gracefully intertwine amidst the slinky metronomic-pop, ethereal British
folk, and sensual Euro pop
grooviness. From the seven-plus-minute "Suite For Caesar," with its
Stereolabial pulse and tinkling keys, to the loping dynamics of "Kona
Song" and the beautiful "Snoqualmie", it is apparent The Melody
Unit has joined much-loved artists like My Bloody Valentine, Yo La Tengo, and
All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors in the pink-noise-dream-pop pantheon.
But theirs is a more minimalist approach, less shoegazey, more melody-friendly,
allowing the actual pop-songs to shine through with some brilliant candlepower.
Keyboardist Peter Lynch comments, "for the most part, Kevin (Kelly) lays
down the chord progressions he thinks he can work with, and we play with those
for a while until the major melodies start to emerge. After we get a feel for
the direction of the song, Kevin usually comes up with vocal lines. He doesn't
like explaining his lyrics at all. In fact, some of his lyrics are about just
that--words being useless when what we're trying to make here is music, not novels,
not speeches. The vocals are another instrument, no more or less important than
any other."
The Melody Unit started writing music for this album in late 2000. They recorded,
mixed, and mastered the album in a studio with an engineer friend who helped
the band on previous efforts, including 2000's self-released 7" single, "Kona
Song/Snoqualmie." Peter Lynch concludes, "We wanted to have complete
control over how the album sounded from initial recording to final product. Mark,
our drummer, has education as a recording engineer, and we like the process of
it all, even if we have to spend a little more time and money patiently mulling
over the tiniest details."
Album track "Welcome Back Tomorrow" is featured on Parasol's Sweet Sixteen, Volume 4 label
sampler.
PRESS FOR CHOOSE YOUR OWN
ADVENTURE:
To be honest, I've always kind of had a bit of a prejudice against the Melody
Unit. Based on the few songs I heard, I thought they were a bit too space-rocky
for me. The kind of band that spent more time twiddling their effects pedals
than writing actual songs - the kind of band that made me loathe living in Denton,
TX. Plus, when I first put this on, I was a bit deterred by the really long songs
(average length is 5 ½ minutes per song). Listening to this, though (my
first true Melody Unit experience), I've realized that I'd been wrong. Really,
despite the long songs - which often don't even seem too long - these are very
beautiful pop songs. And hardly any effects at all (wherever did I get that idea??).
It has a very lush sound, but due to the tight drums, it's not cluttered in the
least (well, maybe a little on "Snoqualmie"). It's like Yo La Tengo
meets the Black Watch band, with an occasional Stereolab feel at times. The music
is dynamic, but not always in the standard "start off quiet, explode at
the end" way - the build ups are more subtle;
especially on "Suite For Caesar" and "Nutations 1". The male/female
vocals are very dream-poppy, often ethereal. I also like the cover and its random
pictures - very whimsical, though I can't decide if it really fits the feel of
the record? - Indie Pages
The Melody Unit's music is best listened to while in a melancholic mood, for
reasons both sympathetic and cathartic. It lolls and breezes while subtle splashes
of music color build a feeling of promise, until the tracks finally culminate
in a melodic bliss. The compositions stride in slow motion, rhythms and hooks
hypnotically insinuating themselves rather than bounding into the picture. It's
nuanced and minimalistic, but its beauty unfolds slowly and you become deeply
enamored with it upon repeated spins. "Kona Song" is a perfect example,
a gorgeous track of gentle guitar brushes and loping synthesizers that sound
like distant whale calls. Patience is the key in enjoying the six-piece's second
album, but it's well worth your attentions. - Sean Leary/Amplifier
Old-school dreampop never sounded so good as filtered through the Versus model.
Forming their own Ballayut/Troups axis, Kevin Kelly and Jessica Folsom strike
perfection atop a heady and pop-melodic coalescence of jangly electric guitars,
tambourine-shake 4/4 drumming, and Whitman's sampler of synth textures. Simplicity
is always an ally to strong, concise songwriting, and The Melody Unit are nothing
if not spot-on in their ability to pen catchy, engaging and memorable tunes free
of distractions and indulgences. So what if it's five to 10 years done, the shit
makes me feel good, and it will you too. - The
Big Takeover
PRESS FOR ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW:
There seems to be a resurgence of bands who are influenced by the late '80s/early
'90s shoe-gaze style. Like Chicago's Melochrome, The Melody Unit does things
right. The Seattle-based band recreates the floating swirly pop bliss that bands
like Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine helped define nearly 10 years ago, and
they make it sound fresh. The band blasts a new fuzzy sound through the layers
of keys and guitars. Like Melochrome, The Melody Unit may be too late to make
a significant impact on the scene, but who cares. These discs stand proudly in
my collection and are classics in my mind, at least. - Yeah Yeah Yeah
If you haven't been paying any attention since 1993, there's still plenty of
commendable music being made in and around the Seattle area these days. Among
these bands are the Melody Unit and Voyager One, both of which eschew their hometown's
hard-rock reputation in favor of spacey, ethereal pop that takes its cues from
Spiritualized, Swervedriver, Lush, Ride and of course, My Bloody Valentine, among
other usual suspects. Both groups, for being relatively new, possess a surprisingly
fluid chemistry, able to create a cosmic amalgam full of music moonbeams. (They
should be Seattle's true SuperSonics.) The Melody Unit is certainly a fitting
name for a band that produces such melodic pop arrangements. Kevin Kelly and
Jessica Folsom share vocal duties, softly singing over the space-rock din of
beguiling numbers such as "The Hallucinogenic
Toreador" and "Spy Song." Folsom's voice is consistently dreamy
- just like the Melody Unit. Meanwhile, the members of Voyager One add a psychedelic
flavor to their sonic swirl. The boys also do a blissful, unhurried - at the
very least - version of "Daytripper." Pass the valium. - John
Elsasser/Magnet
A message from The Melody Unit:
Hi there,
My name is Peter and I play keyboards with The Melody Unit. We're pretty darn
excited about our new album out on Hidden Agenda entitled "Choose Your Own
Adventure". This is our first album released through a national/international
label, and we couldn't have picked a better time creatively to do it. We've spent
the last year incubating these songs in the studio and on stage, trying to work
each of them into a shiny little gem. I guess they're more like big gems since
many of the songs are six minutes or
more.
As far as a description of the music goes, I have a hard time using words to
describe any music, especially my own. No musician likes to think s/he is stuck
in a category and stuck with a certain genre. All we know is that it pleases
us greatly and that our focus is often on vascillating between tightly structured
pop and layers of melodic psychedelia. OK, I guess there's some words that fit
a bit. Others have said "shoegaze" and "dream-pop" or "space-rock",
but I also like to think "British late 60's
psychedelic", "post-early 80's gothic surf", and "new orchestrated
bliss", but that doesn't really mean anything (really). In any case, we're
very happy to get a chance to offer our music on a larger scale with Hidden Agenda.
It plays best loud. Hope you like it! -Peter |
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