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Your Team
Ring: In Service of the Villain
This is probably up there with the toughest reviews Ive had to work on so far; some distant form of musical wanderings too hard to nail a name on or put a fair description to. What I can say, however, is that this album is a great, awe-inspiring piece of true art/literature. Your Team Ring has created a unique, fully expressional and limitlessly creative musical masterpiece. At first I was about to launch into how overly whimsical and self-important this record was when it whined out at me on the first few listens; but then I really got into it, even the lyrics and messages. The lyrics are actually bordering on the poetic track, which is always a huge plus in my critical mind. Now, the whimsical and flightiness of the album as a whole, the organic movements and eased vocals completely put me at rest and pulled me in to take in all the other little joints and muscles that make up each song. Right off the bat here, Ill mention the main two songwriters and their instruments, just to throw a feel of the massiveness of this recording at you among other fellow musicians, Gabriel Walsh is the concept man behind this undertaking and Ricky Midnight is his collaborator. Walsh is listed as vocalist and plays guitar, bass, synths, tapes, mandolin, harmonium, psalter(?), recorder, percussion, glockenspiel and gopichand; while Midnight mans the vocals as well as piano, keyboards and tapes. Both are film workers and artists which adds a unique, additional level of creativity and imagery into the mix here. Movements of mood and expressions and track-to-track cohesiveness have definitely been taken into consideration throughout. Theres a constant theme, mood, and growth, which backbones the album in its entirety. Just the album title itself is weighted. It looks to me that this is a concept album exploring the human psyche; a dive into the human tendency to give up, resign and wait for the end to creep towards us. Only, there is a hero thats been planted, waiting to sprout himself and his ideas forth into the world, a man born out of the apathy, born in the service of villain, whose sole purpose is to break free. There is a great storyline and even greater message at work here if Ive read into this correctly, that is. The music itself is beautifully orchestrated and psychedelically choral with moving swells and parts. Its both loaded and light at the same time. Wandering, experimental and full of dreamful, swirling imagery, this piece of work is as rich as independent, low-budget music comes. Check this out.
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