:: A Mountain Of One - Institute Of Joy

A Mountain Of One

There’s a lot of hype surrounding this ballsy electro/psychedelic rock act. Admittedly, it’s coming mostly from the English press, so let’s just tune them out for a moment and decide for ourselves if it is indeed warranted or yet more hot air from those British buffoons! Surprisingly, ‘Institute Of Joy’ is the London duo’s debut effort and, while ambitious, is one solid effort. Amazingly, they have been compared to a tripped out Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, Air, Beta Band and the Verve. I’m not really hearing any of that but what I am hearing is some high class sonic tunes that are pretty good. I won’t say it's so great or even better than good, but just pretty good. It’s almost a case of too many ingredients - styles, genres, sounds, instruments options and influences - spoiling the musical broth. It might have been better to hold off on some of the things in order to let the flavours of the other stuff actually stand out and deliver on their own. Having said that, when they get the mix just right, as is the case in the song ‘Green’, an acoustic/electro number, it works and sounds perfect. But then they jump in with more samples, sounds and overuse the technology at their disposal and spoil it, as the case with ‘Highs Of The Sun’, a cavorting, disjointed electro-rock-discoesque-brooding number. They call it a multi-dimensional, musical tapestry, I call it over-the-top and unnecessary. When they’re on and have the ingredients and mix right, it’s really good but when there’s too much going on and they’re trying really hard like they’re competing against the Iron Chef, it just boils over the top and the moment is spoiled. I’d say approach this album with oven mitts as when it’s done right it’s hot but when it’s not, and has boiled over the result leaves a bitter aftertaste.