Rated 4.0 / 5 from 2 logs on Katalog
I can’t believe I’m thinking this but this reminded me of Eurovision (although, obviously, if Eurovision sounded this good it would cease to exist because it would defeat its own purpose). It’s all over the place, or all over the musical landscape, if you wish, which was the idea, fair enough. It has that fun mess that’s in fact perfectly thought out and engineered, the glitter, the optimism (too much perhaps), theatrics (in some songs you can easily imagine the stage), and some songs have such distractingly generic lyrics I wished I didn’t understand English. It felt a bit like a journey through a music-themed amusement park or those videos before Eurovision when every country shows a random clip to represent them, which was kind of fun and cozy. I couldn’t immerse myself fully but I loved most of the music, although more in a sense of what he does with it. And I absolutely appreciate the ambition, scale and collaboration behind the whole project. I listened to this while watching shooting not-stars stars. I saw none, but it was a lovely backdrop for the final song. Note: I didn’t listen to parts 1-3 fully (yet)
Finally had a moment to go through the fourth and final installment of Colliers four album extravaganza. It’s probably my favorite one, not so much musically, but in terms of taste and scale. It’s too much, by every measure, and I love that. I’m not a trained musician so a lot of Colliers artistry will inevitably go over my head, but this album is my speed. My chief complaint with Collier is that he’s so—tasteful. It’s all very manic pixie dream boy, with pink crocs and hedgehog hair, but when it comes down to it, he doesn’t have that splash of saudade I like in my jazz musicians. I’m sure he’s a perfectly nice man with a healthy relationship with his mother and impeccable gut health, but it makes it challenging to connect with the music. Not this album. This album is great. It’s plucky and in your face and, of course, musicality out the wazoo. Collier seems to be showing off and I love that for him.
