It is quite time to review something more fresh, and I luckily stumbled upon the Mekons album called Deserted. I’ve listed to the older LPs of the band and always thought them to be more of a punk, however, they have developed a lot since their debut in distant 1977. Now you can easily hear the elements of folk, country and many other genres in their music.
Deserted album confirms that the punk influence is not at all strong with Mekons. So let us take a closer look at the new release of this British band.
As Guns’n’Roses from the last review, Mekons have been silent for a long time and in the end produced a good conceptual album that sometimes sounds a little wobbly. Well, what else would you feel in a desert?
If someone made me listen to this album immediately right now, I would have begun from the fourth track named How Many Stars. It is a lyrical composition that sounds incredibly wide and monumental and drives you away from the first sounds. The violin gets well along with distorted guitar, and as you may easily guess, the former brings lyricism, while the latter adds some drive.
There are both dynamic and slower composition on the album, but upon the whole it brings you in the thinking mood. However, you cannot tell it from the first composition Lawrence of California that begins from overdriven guitar and amp sounds, hinting that we might get a heavy metal sound here. Well, not really. But you don’t regret when the whole band steps in, because you instantly start admiring the soothing sound of the violin, precise and piercing guitar chords, crashing (sorry!) sound of crash, skillful synthesis of different instruments.
Upon the whole the album looks like a musical landscape, that is monumental but is subject to chaos sometimes. The LP sounds fresh and not out of time as it may happen to some old groups that have started in 70s. It is pleasant when after 40 years the band still has something to say.
Enjoy the music!
https://tidal.com/album/103240001
