Review: Mammoth Life - Enlightenment: A Romantic Gospel Part 3 and 4

Mammoth Life - Enlightenment: A Romantic Gospel Part 3 and 4

2009, Mammoth Life

Mammoth Life is an esoteric Kansas band with a mid-western charm and a sound that's out of this world. Pop convention goes out the window in the face of following their muse, and Mammoth Life creates like the sun flies, straight across the sky with no stop or pause for the mores of the moment. In anticipation of the 2010 release of their next album, An American Movement, Mammoth Life has released a highly limited (250 copies) 7" vinyl 45-rpm EP entitled: Enlightenment: A Romantic Gospel Part 3 and 4. The EP is pressed on transparent blue vinyl and hand numbered, and promises great things from An American Movement.

This two track single displays a continuation of the artistic and sonically aesthetic work undertaken begun on Kaleidoscopic Art Pop, although early indications suggest that Mammoth Life continue to delve deeper and deeper in this collective muse. Disrupting The Extinction Of Distinction (Part 3 – Ego), is a wide-ranging, piano-driven chamber pop experience. There’s an irrepressible pop feel to the song despite its more baroque elements. We Are Within A Holy War (Part 4 – Critical Thinking) indirectly challenges listeners to delve deeper than the sound bytes you hear on the news and consider both the realities and the impacts of events in the world. Listening to these songs you could image that if composer Ralph Vaughan Williams were writing today his material might sound a bit like Mammoth Life.

Mammoth Life continues to impress from deep in left field (beware the corn rows). This is one of those bands that’s just so unique and off the dial that it’s hard to imagine them gaining significant commercial footing, yet there is a distinct pop sensibility that runs through their brand of Art/Chamber/Folk Rock that is irrepressible. If these two songs are any indication, the forthcoming album, An American Movement, should be something exciting to hear. For now, try to get your hands on Enlightenment: A Romantic Gospel Part 3 and 4; it’s very much worth the effort.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Mammoth Life at www.myspace.com/officialmammothlife or http://www.mammothlife.net/. Enlightenment: A Romantic Gospel Part 3 and 4 is listed on Mammoth Life’s website but without purchase links. Contact the band directly through their website or MySpace pages for more info.

Review: Mammoth Life - Kaleidoscopic Art Pop

Mammoth Life - Kaleidoscopic Art Pop
2009, Mammoth Life

Chamber Pop Quintet (and occasionally sextet) Mammoth Life hails from Lawrence, Kansas, where among the cornfields, under the hot Kansas sun they've been distilling a brand of alt-pop sweeter than corn bread and more powerful than ethanol. Kaleidoscopic Art Pop is the name of their debut album, and an apt description for the mellifluous music creates as easily as they breathe. Producer and bandleader founded Mammoth Life in 2004 with keyboardist/vocalist Elizabeth Mead. The band is rounded out with lead vocalist Bobby Sauder, Melicent King (violin, synths) and Rachel Mulford (drums).

Mammoth Life works because of strong songwriting and a sense of joy that comes across in their music. Its not that the songs are particularly happy or bouncy, but there's a real sense that Mammoth Life is having a ball doing what they're doing, and it rubs off on the listener. Bicycle Rider is frenetic, chaotic and tuneful with great harmonies and an almost classical song structure highlighted with quirky Folk/Pop instrumentation. Convoluted I starts out as a Gypsy/Klezmer hybrid led by the violin before resolving into a quirky pop confection. These are the sort of contradictions you'll encounter when listening to Mammoth Life, although they sound less like contradictions than happily coexisting musical improbabilities. At Once is a prime example. After several listens the only honest description I can come up with is that it’s bizarre, yet strangely catchy. You'll have to form your own opinion on this one, but the intrigue factor is enough on its own to keep you coming back.

Word Salad plays like a pop symphony masquerading as an alternative folk song, which serves as a warm-up for First Semester Of College. This may be the most inventive song on the album, opening as a Baroque harpsichord composition that devolves into what I can only describe as highly rhythmic toddler punk. Unburden Your Heart To Me is also highly unique, playing like a Medieval musical play. The instrumentation is a bit surreal but the song is highly entertaining. The biggest surprise on Kaleidoscopic Art Pop is Our Prayer, a classic mixolydian secular hymn played on what sounds like Organ and Sanctus Bells. Our Prayer is a beautiful piece of musical expression.

Mammoth Life looks like they might have just stepped out of the late 1960's. The creativity and ability to look at musical creation from outside the box is refreshing and enervating. Not everyone is going to get this music. It's definitely not the status quo, but it might just be the most original sound you're going to find this year. Kaleidoscopic Art Pop contains a couple of songs that just don't gel, but on the whole it’s an outstanding effort.

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Mammoth Life at http://www.mammothlife.net/ or www.myspace.com/officialmammothlife. You can purchase a copy of Kaleidoscopic Art Pop at www.cdbaby.com/cd/mammothlife.