PART THE SECOND

I must preface my review by saying that this is a free album that has high quality download mirrors on maudlin of the Well's own website, so nobody has any excuse for not listening to it. I must also extend a personal thanks to all of the executive producers of Part the Second; you guys are great. Now that that's out of the way, on to the review!

Part the Second is experimental band maudlin of the Well's fourth release, and first in over 5 years. I was wary to give this a try, as metal, nor experimental music, had been my favorite upon exploring the sub-genres of this site, but thank god I did. Part the Second instantly became one of my favorite and most listened to albums, and contains some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard.

The first thing that strikes me about Part the Second is how unique it sounds. Even when considering mastermind Toby Driver's other output, Kayo Dot, and even past maudlin of the Well albums, there's nothing that sounds quite like this album. Within the album as well, the music is very diverse. None of the songs sound much like each other, and this is one of the strongest points of the album. Each song presents a new sound, and makes Part the Second great to listen to all the way through.

What's even more impressive than the range in sound found here is how it manages to be strikingly beautiful at the same time. This is in no small part aided by the wonderful violin from Mia Matsumiya that colors so much of this album, as well as Driver's at times screaming, at others smooth, guitar lines. The music is incredibly pleasing, even though it throws away so many qualities that we normally associate with affectively emotional music.

To say that there is a structure to the music here would be a very loose description. Rather, the music flows naturally from beginning to end. The songs are not melody or vocal driven, but there's just something about them that makes them so memorable and fun to listen to. It's always a surprise where the music will end up, but it's not jarring or directionless, and is always captivating. The vocals are as diverse as the music, as every time Driver opens his mouth he has a different singing style. The singing isn't the selling point here, but it is interesting to hear his whispers and screams in between the already great music.

There's really nothing bad I can say about Part the Second. The closest thing to a complaint is that this music exists solely in this short 45 minutes, but what a wonderful 45 minutes it is. If you haven't listened to this album yet, it's an absolute must, and considering that it's at no cost, why haven't you yet?