RIYL: Dead Can Dance, Tool, Massive Attack
Activist music has been enjoying a resurgence lately. Spurred on by the Occupy movements and the economic and cultural unrest that predated it, bands like Rise Against and Green Day have reached a wide audience in recent years by addressing pressing issues using solid punk rock songwriting. Musiciens Sans Frontieres are hoping to chart a similar path, addressing alternative energy, pot legalization and immigration on their newly released 8-track LP “Spread Some Love”. This Brooklyn based foursome is led creatively by the husband and wife duo of guitarist Thomas Simon and singer Jillie Simon. The band dabbles in a variety of genres, from prog-rock to grunge and trip-hop, drawing on the diverse backgrounds of its members to create a global sound.
While the mood can be quite dark with down tuning and distortion, Jillie’s vocals provide an effective counterbalance as she uses her sly and seductive voice to address both personal and environmental topics. The album features an interesting ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ cover as well as reworked version of ‘Affection’, a standout track from their previous album “Satellite”.
The album opens with ‘Dream Segment’, a likeable but foreboding instrumental with an ominous synth line and abstract guitar and piano tones. A similar groove surfaces on ‘Happy Monday’, which sounds a lot like Massive Attack circa “Mezzanine” but with the somewhat irritating repetition of the lines “Happy Monday/ Happy Day”.
Really only 3 tracks on the album deal overtly with activism. The first of them is ‘Legalize’, a fairly half-baked tune that cites the merits of total decriminalization. ‘So Many Ways’ is a bit better, with Jillie proposing alternatives to big oil companies and fracking over nice guitar
work and atmospheric sound effects.
There’s a slight reward if you can make it to the album closer, ‘In the Waves’, which uses a nice tabla rhythm and bass riff to conjure a Tool/Perfect Circle vibe. Over spaced out stabs of electric guitar and distant piano echoes Jillie vibes darkly about a love affair. This and a few of the other songs on “Spread Some Love” show a lot of potential. The biggest problem? Jillie Simon is no Maynard James Keenan.
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For More Information Visit:
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http://www.reverbnation.com/tsmsf
http://www.reverbnation.com/endorphinrecords
http://www.reverbnation.com/thomassimon
http://www.jilliesimon.com
http://www.endorphinrecords.com
