Miracle Temple by Mount Moriah
Full of heart and southern charm, Miracle Temple, is the second album by North Carolina’s Mount Moriah. While some struggle to pinpoint its genre, Miracle Temple is best experienced simply sitting back and enjoying rather than analyzing. The Dolly Parton-esque voice of Heather McEntire immediately recalls the legendary country singer, but Mount Moriah has too much going on to simply be labeled country.
Almost every syllable McEntire sings is dripping with sweet southern twang like a cool glass of sweat tea on a hot Texas day. Miracle Temple is certainly accessible to city-slickers, but anyone born south of the Mason-Dixon line will feel a connection to this heartfelt album and its allusions to life in “God’s country.”
Lyrically, the album tells the story of a girl stuck in a college town in between semesters when everyone has left. Don’t be fooled though, Miracle Temple is not depressing. While uncertainty permeates from McEntire’s voice at times, there is an inspiring confidence and warmth in her singing that is reassuring.
The music is wonderfully warm, and the guitar work even borders on intricate, at times, but it never steals the spotlight. Instead, it lays the groundwork for McEntire to drive the true meaning of each song home with her wonderful voice, putting Mount Moriah on the path to greatness.
A Love Surreal by Bilal
Having sung on albums with Bèyonce, Common, P-Diddy and The Roots, it’s safe to say that Bilal is already an accomplished musician. The soulful R&B singer decided not to stop there, releasing three albums of his own. The latest of which, A Love Surreal, combines a healthy dose of nostalgia from a veteran of the music industry with modern styling to create a nearly flawless R&B record.
“Lost For Now” is a surprise hit, as it’s the most far removed from the rest of the album. Combining a melancholy guitar riff with Bilal’s soaring voice, the track creates an oddly touching experience halfway through the album. This probably coincides with Bilal’s vision for the album to embody the process of love: “meeting, the break up, [and] the get-back-together.”
After the energetic low point of A Love Surreal, the mood picks back up as the “get-back-together” stage manifests itself on the record. “Astray” opens up with a guitar just like its predecessor, but here that guitar opens with a confident growl to show that things are now looking up. The confidence doesn’t stop there either, as Bilal sings “who showed up stoned as hell / using the past as a scapegoat,” boldly calling his lover out.
A Love Surreal is the perfect album for anyone that remotely enjoys R&B, from old school fans to the new.
AMOK by Atoms for Peace
Atoms for Peace is a supergroup comprised of Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich playing keyboards and synth with Joey Waronker from R.E.M. and Beck and Brazilian percussionist Mauro Refosco providing the intricate rhythmic patterns used on AMOK, the group’s debut album.
Yorke stated that the band members bonded over their love of Afrobeat when they recorded the album after “getting wasted and listening to Fela Kuti.” The influence of afrobeat is evident through some of the drum patterns and the funky bass lines that Flea is known for, yet it all comes from a minimalist perspective, so the in-your-face attitude of the Chili Peppers’ bassist is nowhere to be found.
AMOK is a minimalistic work of art that benefits from a legendary cast of musicians who expertly create an intricate synthesis of analog and digital sounds, enticing you to listen to it over and over.