Momentary Prophets — Hippie de Réduction
When Led Zeppelin III crashed into Rubber Soul and glanced off the fender of Band of Horses, this was the music that was playing as CSN&Y tweeted Seals and Croft to turn on their radio.
These songs are solid and Momentary Prophets have the confidence to go long when needed and take chances with stylized vocals that are both daring and calming once you tune your auditory processors to the correct frequency. The more you listen the more pleasant the experience, like meditation.
Compositions like Drawing the White are rich and structured to lead the listener one way only to reverse course and bring unexpected pleasure a minute into the message. Still others (Air, Alaina’s Shower) take on the form of a prayer or a trance. Beyond this, there are stories like The Boy That Was that lay themselves out like a proverb set to a beautiful melody.
Many who enjoy this album will want to check out their first CD for a glimpse of how they arrived at the place they are now. The more raw nature of that first effort has a place, but the high production values of Mandala point to a trajectory the industry should take note of.
And if you can see them live you should. Their shows are funny, enjoyable, audience driven and any reservations about hippie pretense can be forgotten as soon as they hit the stage. Don’t hesitate to hit them up for advice on opening a coconut or the dairy consumption of citizens of Japan!
Text and Review from their MySpace
Heroes of Indie Music 