With her sword held to the sky, a naked woman dreamily leads Unknown Mortal Orchestra into battle on the cover of their second album II. Originally a solo home-recording project in NZ, ex-Mint Chick Ruben Nielson moved to Oregon to start anew. Joined by Greg Rogove and Jake Portrait, UMO quickly attracted international attention with their debut self-titled album.
Now signed with Jagjaguwar, follow-up II is brutally honest with both its lyrical content and characteristic UMO soundscape. Drawn in by the tranquil guitar of From The Sun, you have two options with this album: you can listen to the music just for itself and have a harmonious time, or you can listen to the lyrics and have a moment inside your own mind. Both ways of consuming this record end up equally as wonderful.
Written on the road, II lets you creep inside Ruben’s brain and sit patiently in the back seat. As the effortless calm of psychedelic guitars take over, all elements echo a theme commonly explored by artists from the bottom corner of the world. The opening line “Isolation can put a gun to your head” pretty much sums it up.
Title track Swim And Sleep (Like A Shark) takes you all the way to the “sweet cold bottom” of the sea for an underwater adventure – check it out online, it will get you oh so excited about the album’s February 1 release (pre-orders include a temporary eye tattoo. Awesome.).
There’s something about Ruben’s vocal and guitar tone that will always remain a little bit magical. Calm and truthful, he could probably convince me to do anything.
TANYDD JAQUET
Best Track: Swim And Sleep (Like A Shark)
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: TAME IMPALA, MELODY’S ECHO CHAMBER, OPOSSOM
In A Word: Psych
