Facts: MUDO hail from
the Valencia area and were formed in spring 2000. This is more or less
the most comprehensive info you can get on this enigmatic new band.
Check out their website: you'll find nothing but a simple photograph
of four shadowy silhouettes standing behind a window. The CD cover won't
help you much either: it's plain blank except for the name of the band
handwritten on the lower right corner. Inside there's hardly more info
but at least you'll be happy to find the band's line-up and a short
introduction text by MUDO's frontman, Javier Marti. Don't expect a regular
biography though: this is more about trains pulling into stations, woods
of millenary lime-trees, the unique light of dusk on La Sierra de Bérnia,
the changing coulours of maple forests at fall, or what it is like just
to taste the foam of days. ... This may seem a bit abstruse at first.
Nevertheless, this impressionist imagery fits well to the hazy outlines
and cinematic qualities of MUDO's music, and finally tells more about
the band than any vain attempt of description. A few keywords also provide
further interesting clues: Bristol, Nashville, Crustration, Verlaine
and Lloyd... Obviously, MUDO move in the same twilight area that gave
birth to the Bristol scene. They're just more on its dark side. From
bands like Crustration and Portishead, they keep the instant melodic
appeal, the lush and evocative soundscape, and the shimmering brilliance
of silk vocals. Victoria's Secret, for instance, a dazzling cover
of a song by Lisa Germano brings the listener into exquisite ghostly
realms. Steal it, the only track here with male vocals, rolls
nonchalantly, displaying a touching sweet n' sour melancholy. But when
that beauty threaten to become too innocuous, MUDO have no hesitation
in soiling it with noise and discords. It's the drilling sound of trumpets
on the album's pièce de résistance Still Life, a strangely unhiged
bridge in the middle of the gentle Anchors, the sudden burst
of distorted guitars on the instrumental opener I'm in Love With
a Yew Tree, or the breathtaking series of caresses and slaps on
the outstanding ( and personal favourite) Rainroads.
I don't remember having
heard such an impressive debut from a Spanish band since a very long
time. This is not yet an achievement though. Clocking at a deceiving
32 minutes, the album is far too short for that. And we can't help wondering
what will happen to the band now that Ana Reche, the main vocalist on
this recording and certainly one of its strongest points, has quit...
Answer on the next MUDO album. In the meantime, and despite the justified
drawbacks on its length, check this one and enjoy.
MUDO :
http://www.musicaendirecto.com/mudo
LABEL :
http://www.zebrarecords.net/
Mailto:music@zebrarecords.net