Musical Complexity - Take Another Listen

It was recently reinforced to me how your appreciation of music is based on context and mood. I also was reminded that it is important not to judge music with any degree of finality in one listen. As a Neil Finn fan, I've always found that some of his music tends to "grow on you."

Recently, I was sent a CD by a band called Astronaut Down that I decided to feature on this blog. I made the mistake of putting the CD in and listening to it with the express objective of writing a post about it on this blog. Because I was working at the time, I didn't read too much about the band or bother to think about what kind of music it was. While it was certainly not jarring in any way, I came away from the listen not super excited about the sound. The vocals were average and the sound seemed to range from heavy rock with distorted guitars to more melodic jangling guitar sounds.

Then, I decided to wait a couple of days and listen again - this time focused more on what I was listening to. Immediately there was a difference. This is not a saccharine pop band, but one that I would classify as serious prog rock. The first thing that struck me on the second listen is that the music was a lot more complex in structure from the standard pop melody. The rhythms and time signatures were not formulaic, but exhibited a sophistication that does not lend itself to toe-tapping and head-bobbing on first contact. The moment I classified it in my mind as a "prog rock band," my appreciation for the album suddenly changed. Instead of wondering why I wasn't tapping my toes at every song and singing along to a catchy chorus, I started to appreciate the complexity of the music. It reminded me of my first real introduction to modern prog rock at the NearFest many, many years ago. There, I fell in love with a band called Djam Karet which had a similar sound.

While I still think that the band could benefit from an upgrade to the power of the vocals, I liked the album enough to give it a third listen (and then a fourth on my home system). Imagine my delight (and soaring self-confidence as a music reviewer) when I went to their web site and found that they consider themselves to be a prog rock band! You can find them at http://www.astronautdown.com/ and buy this album directly from that site for $10 plus shipping. Four of the songs from their album are also available for download on their MySpace page here: http://www.myspace.com/astronautdown

If you're looking for simple pop melodies, you can give this album a miss. If you're looking for excellent musicianship and complex prog rock/metal sound that will bear repeated listenings, this band's for you. Here is one of their compositions from their album God's Eye.

1. Astronaut Down - Dawn (5.48 MB; 128kbps MP3)