Richard In Your Mind – ‘This Face’ (mp3)
Richard In Your Mind’s latest My Volcano actually reminds me of Beck’s classic Odelay in that both are kind of a melting pot of genres and schizophrenic production, elements of folk, hip hop and psychedelia interchangeably drifting to the fore. And, like Odelay, it’s not entirely successful – some parts try a bit too hard, other kind of miss the mark – but every song that strays that bit too far or clashes against the previous makes this album what it is. It’s a bit of a mess, but it revels in it and it works in that weird way.
I like the WTF factor of RIYM. Although on first listen you’ll likely find the more direct tracks like ‘I Will,’ ‘Losing Our Mind,’ and ‘The Sun Broke Into Your Heart’ the stand outs, others will eventually work their way under your skin as they did mine. It’s an album that not only sustains but rewards repeated spins, and every time I put it on I find a new track that I dig. Today, it was ‘This Face,’ which sits comfortably between their straightforward and more far-out tunes.
June 25, 2010 9:48 am
I agree with most of your points. However I am not one to critique vocal or instrumental misses, thus I would not say that this particular track is a mess. Perhaps more research into Richard In Your Mind will show that. I am not sure how I feel about comparing this album to other albums. Yet it certainly is a mix from what I have seen here. Not sure where the hip hop comes from however, but psychedelic stands out without a doubt.