WISDOM OF CROWDS

It's always an exciting prospect when two musically innovative visionaries combine their fertile and profoundly creative imaginations in a collaborative effort. Most recently, we've had the long-awaited, self-titled 'Storm Corrosion' album from Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt and Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson and, now, there's 'Wisdom of Crowds', another intriguing pairing to entice fans of progressive music. Originally masterminded by The Pineapple Thief guitarist/vocalist, Bruce Soord, he recruited Katatonia frontman Jonas Renkse to assist with finalising the songs that had already been composed and, of course, to lend his vocal talent to the tracks. Apparently, the compositions were conceived with Renkse's voice in mind so it's somewhat fortunate the Swede agreed to participate. Often, the resulting music is hypnotically sublime, both vocals and instrumentations. Reverb-heavy guitar parts combine beautifully with ambient keyboard sounds which are interposed with, and build into, ejaculations of distorted alt-rock bombast. Renkse's singing is, if anything, a little understated and not as impassioned as his work in Katatonia although the man sings with genuine affective intent, and is as tonally beautiful as ever. Composition-wise, it is undeniable Soord's a masterful songwriter as he balances out accessible melodies and stylistically natural progressions within the context of some genuinely innovative arrangements. 'Wisdom of Crowds' provides both a stimulating and mesmerizing listening experience. However, the album's not entirely flawless. Some of the programmed percussion does, at times, feel a little at odds with the instrumentations rather than an integral part of the compositions. And that's not a problem with the production/mix (as both are great); rather, it occasionally detracts from the music through choice of rhythmic patterns and general sound. Actually, perhaps it is also a production problem on occasion where the programming is a little too crystal clear and 'clean' against the more natural sounding guitars. Whatever the case, I'm nitpicking here as, in general, 'Wisdom of Crowds' sounds magnificent. Highly recommended.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Kscope

Album

WISDOM OF CROWDS

Review by Mark Holmes

RUNNING TIME:

53:38

RELEASE DATE:

3rd June 2013

TRACK LISTING

1) Pleasure
2) Wisdom of Crowds
3) Radio Star
4) Frozen North
5) The Light
6) Pretend
7) Stacked Naked
8) Centre of Gravity
9) Flows Through You

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

UK/Sweden

"...both a stimulating and mesmerizing listening experience."