Mellow ~ Another Mellow Spring

CyberOctave CD

Everyone knows the French are cool. Mellow proves that they’re confused as well, albeit a very cool kind of confused. On their mind-altering debut, Another Mellow Spring, Mellow throws together influences as seemingly divergent as the film music of Ennio Morricone, early psychedelia à la Syd Barrett, and the airy, contemporary pop of outfits like Stereolab.

Opener "Shinda Shima" starts off sounding like a demented carousel, then whips into a spat of funky spy-thriller music. The two forces blend together to an end that can lower the listener’s blood pressure. Mellow shows their pack of Beatles cards next, even borrowing the entire "Yes I’m gonna be star" line for "Paris Sous La Neige," which is a brilliant study in fluffy, feel-good pop. Down the line, the Sgt. Pepper’s horn section gets borrowed repeatedly and shamelessly, and a Herb Alpert-esque trumpet touch pops up on the album’s first single, "Instant Love." It’s as wispy as they get and features Patrick Woodcock’s feathery vocal whisper which lightly apes Ringo Starr two tracks later. The lovely instrumental, "Mellow," is divided into two parts, remixed twice, and sticks to the brain with shimmering Moog passages, lazy beats, and lusciously smeared electrosounds. Mellow is, and Mellow does. –Scott D. Lewis

 

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