Artist: Moon Prototype
Title: Modern Life Is A Journey By Car
Genre: Prog-Metal / Trip-Hop
Release Date: 25th November 2013
Label: White Leaves Music
Album Review
MOON PROTOTYPE is the project of a French musician, Oliver Jung, who lives with the idea that his music should be accessible to all, for free. His discography is published following the free copyright system Creative Commons. His new album, ‘Modern Life Is A Journey By Car’, was released on November 25th, 2013 by the Belgian label White Leaves Music and frankly, it is a masterpiece.
The fifteen compositions are eclectic, with elements of prog-metal à la PORCUPINE TREE and ANATHEMA, elements of electro/ rock evoking NINE INCH NAILS as well as touches of trip-pop reminiscent of TRICKY or IAMX . For this album, Jung enlisted the services of Grégoire Fray (Thot / White Leaves Music), Nicolas Chapel (Demians), David Husser (Y-Front, LTNO, Mumbai Queen) and Aurélie Jung (Yakch'e). I was astonished by the omnipresence of samples from movie films in the arrangements, so I asked Jung to why: "In fact, the album was composed around samples", he replied via email. "It all started with a few synth chords and raw samples, which defined the themes of the songs and the colour of the album. I love movies, and I chose these samples because they trigger something very powerful. My dream would be to work on a movie soundtrack."
Let's listen to the album. The first track, ‘Introspection’, immediately creates a strange atmosphere, cinematic, with samples from the movies ‘Contact’ and ‘Mission to Mars’. ‘Coal In My Eye’ then presents the basic ingredients of MOON PROTOTYPE: a marriage between David Husser's prog-metal guitar riffs, the sampled drums and Jung's voice, very sensitive, even sweet. You think of PORCUPINE TREE and ANATHEMA but the voice reminds me clearly of the singer of GAZPACHO, the excellent Norwegian prog-rock combo. An excerpt from ‘Pulp Fiction’ opens ‘My Name Is The Lord’, which continues in the same vein of slow and hypnotic prog-metal. ‘Keep Everyone Afraid’ is more industrial with trip-hop touches, evoking the NIN of the first period but in contrast with Reznor, who used to belch his unhappiness, Jung sings softly and with great sensitivity, alternating with samples taken from ‘Bowling for Columbine’.
Just when you're about to get tired of the formula, ‘Expression Of Bliss’ brings a beautiful counterpoint. Built around a simple bass riff, which sounds a bit like PINK FLOYD, the composition takes you high with its guitar wah-wah, also hinting at PINK FLOYD's ‘The Wall’. ‘Celebration’ is even more beautiful: based on two minimalist synth lines, it also offers great guitars and vocals. Then you hear an excerpt from an interview with Charles Manson and Grégoire Fray (Thot) deploys saturated guitar lines evoking MUSE. This short track (‘This Is My Dream World’) is rapidly mixed into ‘The Sinner’, which features deconstructed rhythms and superb vocal harmonies. Then the announcement of the death of Kurt Cobain on CNN introduces ‘It's Better To Burn Out Than To Fade Away’, a bluesy melody (think of Amy Winehouse ) sung by Aurélie Jung (Yakch'e), the singer's own sister, with lyrics from an interview with Cobain. This is somehow the "atypical" of the album, a bit like ‘The Great Gig In The Sky’.
The album then culminates with a true jewel, the single ‘The Challenge’. A discreet piano, a guitar phrase à la Gary Moore, voices hovering over an evanescent synth line and suddenly the pace doubles and you find yourself in a beautiful trip-hop delirium, illuminated by Jung's beautiful voice singing "I am an outsider." The single ends with a soft piano and voices of American Indians coming from the movie ‘Blueberry’. Fabulous. You think it's over? No, here is the famous speech of Charlie Chaplin's character in ‘The Dictator’, which unfolds on a dense and rich instrumental, ‘The Last Straight Line’. The title track, ‘Modern Life Is A Journey By Car’, is based on a very beautiful poem by Jim Morrison, taken from his book ‘The Lords - Notes On Vision’ (1969). Here, Jung alternates between spoken word and singing; it's a bit like an automatic reading, a sort of rap without hyphenation, of the original text.
The album closes with ‘Staying In Motion’, again in the same electro-rock vein as in the beginning, marked by Grégoire Fray's excellent work on guitar, and finally, ‘Dead Man’, an instrumental inspired by the eponymous film by Jim Jarmusch. In the end, you have the feeling that this album contains an incredible wealth of styles and inspirations. No doubt: it ranks among the best conceptual works of progressive music, alongside PINK FLOYD or PORCUPINE TREE. "Chapeau", as we say in French.
Tracklist
01. Introspection - 02:09
02. Coal in my Eyes - 03:39
03. My Name Is The Lord - 05:02
04. Keep Everyone Afraid - 05:10
05. The Passage - 04:33
06. Expression Of Bliss - 05:33
07. Celebration - 05:41
08. This Dream Is My World - 02:55
09. The Sinner - 05:09
10. It's Better To Burn Out Than To Fade Away - 03:54
11. The Challenge - 05:36
12. The Last Straight Line - 06:14
13. Modern Life Is A Journey By Car - 04:17
14. Staying In Motion - 05:39
15. Dead Man - 07:11
Line-up
Music, vocals and lyrics composed and performed by Olivier Jung
Guitars composed and performed by David Husser and Grégoire Fray
Piano composed and performed by Nicolas Chapel
Female voice by Aurélie Jung
Mixed and mastered by Nicolas Chapel
Website
www.whiteleavesmusic.com/moon-prototype-new-album-now
To listen to and download the album for free: http://moonprototype.bandcamp.com/album/modern-life-is-a-journey-by-car
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 8 / 10
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