Kaada

To the unaware, the cover of Kaada's third album for Ipecac, Music for Moviebikers, may be as puzzling as title. That cover shot shows the rather well-dressed, handsome musician holding a large swan in his arms. He wants to intrigue us from the beginning, and start the process of imagination that makes up the "concept" part of this album. But Music for Moviebikers is in fact a concept album that would never call itself that; it wants to present itself on its own original terms, and although I'm sure someone could point out similar types of conceptual records to me, I can't think of any quite like this off the top of my head. The essential idea behind the album is that its thirteen songs are self-encapsulated movie soundtracks for thirteen nonexistent movies that the listener should imagine in their own mind. The titles of the songs are hints and suggestions to the content; what kind of scenes could play in your mind in harmony with the music. It's more of an umbrella concept - the songs themselves don't have a concrete stylistic connection, just a general unifying tone.

What's more, Music for Moviebikers is as fertile musically as it is conceptually. Kaada assembled folk musicians from Europe to record the album, making his own 22-piece orchestra that includes traditional and folk instruments, and even homemade instruments designed by Kaada himself (add that to his jack of all trades image: in the future he hopes to get some of his homebrewed musical gadgets into production). There's something in here of the sounds you might hear on a thrift shop folk compilation, but with more power: the unconventional instrumentation and careful production gives the album a stranger timbre than you would at first expect. In short, it's beautiful; guitars tinkle, strings ache, accordions breathe, and ghostly vocals weave in and out of the songs with a careful regard for the other elements, making an eerie whole. Yet despite the atmosphere, an occasional pop rhythm will slip out and mix things around before being enveloped in the composition again. All of the songs have their own textures, and as the album progresses, from lush to arid to anything else on Kaada's agenda, it never gets stale or formulaic.

John Erik Kaada is one of those artists who bounce all over the place: he's in a rock group, he's an award-winning film composer, and with this album he's striding the middle ground of his expertise, somewhere between artful composer and pop musician, a perfect approach to fit the album's goals. And if you're still lost on what the album's about, I recommend that you check out the music video for "From Here On It Got Rough," one of my favorites. The video is reminiscent of gray old '20s films with an avant-garde bent, and strings up an evocative mixture of vague narrative and seemingly random parade of images. That doesn't necessarily have to be a definitive approach, and that's what I like about this album. Music for Moviebikers attempts to give you beautiful and evocative music, and asks something out of you. That it delivers on its end of the deal is the highest praise I can give.

- Jon Cameron

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