Review: Molly Shannon, Molly Shannon – ‘Night Language’
Eight years is a long time to spend on any project. Nonetheless, there is an end goal worth working towards. For Molly Shannon, Molly Shannon, the time was spent on curating their most recent release, Night Language. Released on January 1st, Molly Shannon, Molly Shannon, rang in the new year with experimental lo-fi waves.
Most will think that lo-fi is merely bedroom noise, but even if that’s the vibe it gives off, Night Language is a demonstration that there is more to the genre. Of the 12 tracks on the album, the songs display a combination of recordings that are clear and put together with the classic bedroom and experimental tendencies. This can be a hard task to pull off, but Molly Shannon, Molly Shannon execute this technique extremely well.
I listened through the whole album several times and even though the instrumentals were the foundation of each track, the vocals are what rounded it out to completion. With this genre of music, there is a lot of freedom with vocal choices. A majority of the vocals on Night Language are raw and emotionally vulnerable, which cause each song to sound more honest and authentic. Although this style differs from the usual, the album does not lose its professionalism.
This album is wonderfully crafted and some tracks that stand out to me would be “Michael’s Heaven” and “Night Language.” Each track sounds artistically different from one another, displaying the band’s creative ability.
“Michael’s Heaven” starts off slow and mellow, then transitions to a full band incorporation while still including the calm vocals to keep the gentle tone. With this song placed closer to the start of Night Language, listeners can get the sense of what this album delivers throughout all 12 tracks.
The title track “Night Language” has such a light melodic feel from start to end. All of the aspects in this piece do an excellent job of not overpowering each other. The clarity of each part makes it so you can easily connect and enjoy the song for what it is.
Night Language is definitely an album that you might not think is your type, but will end up really admiring. With many different stylistic choices, Molly Shannon, Molly Shannon is capable of creating tracks that could suit any listener willing to give it a chance.
(Night Language is available to purchase digitally or on limited-run cassette at mollyshannonmollyshannon.bandcamp.com/album/night-language. Stream the title track below via Bandcamp.)
