Review Summary: It's not the greatest album ever but it wants to be.
While there is no denying the eternal power of a truly groundbreaking, boundary-pushing and unabashedly artistic album, the ones usually awarded the title of ‘greatest album ever’ are the ones that lie somewhere in between, combining a willingness to experiment with some form of mainstream appeal. Take a band such as Radiohead for instance – their albums find a place alongside underground and cult classics every bit as easily as they do among the greatest albums accepted by a wider audience.
While it may not be the greatest album ever, The Society Islands, the solo project of German-based multi-instrumentalist Boris Rogowski, has attempted to find a similar balance on his latest release,
The Big Sleep. While the monologue that opens the album is not exactly conventional, “Square 1” is not a particularly cerebral piece and you would be forgiven for thinking that you are hearing just yet another hipster indie pop band. This suggestion is not exactly disproven with “From My Mouth Into Yours”, but the interesting male/female vocal dynamic and psychedelic undertones certainly hint at what’s to come.
“Cheap Life” showcases The Society Islands’ psychedelic pop sensibilities but it’s “Blood Tide” where things really take a turn. Rogowski trades in the upbeat pop melodies and indie rock guitar for something a little more sinister in the form of an 11-minute progressive rock opus. The heavy guitars that rip through the song’s midsection come out of nowhere and it’s fascinating to hear what seemed like a fairly established formula move into hard rock territory. The haunting string section at the end brings to mind Steven Wilson and Mikael Åkerfeldt’s dark psychedelic folk collaboration, Storm Corrosion.
The album’s second half slows down and ventures into more atmospheric territory, continuing the darker tone of “Blood Tide” and utilising more experimental textures. “Archer” is dreamy and immersive and contains some particularly Steven Wilson-esque falsettos to boot. “Stargazer” is
The Big Sleep’s second epic that is just not quite as epic as the first. It takes on a spacey dream pop sound that works only because of its hypnotic repetition. It loses much of its effectiveness with the addition of “...and Silly Things” which could have been better utilised elsewhere on the album. It’s a good song but it sounds like it belongs among the album’s poppier first half.
All in all,
The Big Sleep is a great release from The Society Islands that clearly had an intention to create a sound that is both accessible and challenging at the same time. While this is not always the case, there is enough here to suggest that with a bit of refinement, it could well transpire on future releases.
