Mellow Guitar, Bass And Drums Is Hardly Naked Music: The Nudes By Pele Underwhelms

The Good: Decent instrumental sound
The Bad: Short, Songs blend together quickly.
The Basics: Pele presents a fairly monotonous instrumental album with the trio strumming amelodically for just over half an hour.


Today, when my expected shipment of music did not come in, I went to the website for Pele’s album The Nudes, downloaded it and have been listening to it all day.

It’s not for me.

With only eight instrumental songs, clocking out at 37 minutes, The Nudes is an energetic and monotonous work by the trio Pele. All of the songs were written by members of the band – Chris Rosenau, Jon Mueller, and Matt Tennessen. They play all of their own instruments, which are a single guitar, a bass, and drums or keyboards (from Mueller, depending on the track). The Nudes is an instrumental jazz or instrumental pop album and after nine listens, what sticks out most to me is how few of the songs actually stand out.

Basically, each song sounds like a fairly jazzy jam session with the guitar and bass leading in musing tones while the percussion keeps time. “Monkey Monkey Las Vegas,” for example, has no real melody, it is just a repetitive rise and fall progression by the guitar. To the credit of the guitarist and bassist, they clearly have nimble fingers which are able to strum and finger fast. However, they do very little with that talent. This is not like a series of climactic guitar riffs. Instead, they groove along and do pretty much the same thing on each song. “The Mind Of Minolta,” for example, sounds virtually identical to “Monkey Monkey Las Vegas,” save that it has more stops.

Virtually all of the songs have a similar format. The guitar and bass play back and forth for a couple of minutes, then the drums are given the chance to break loose a for about thirty seconds and then the song declines by slowing down the tempo and getting quieter. The album is formulaic and after so many listens, the reason I am unable to recommend The Nudes is because so few of the songs are actually distinct. Instead, it sounds like a warmup period for a very limited jazz band.

The exception to this is “Therapists,” which is a more musing track because the bass keeps a steady melody the entire time. That song is emotionally evocative of something sadder and more contemplative. The only other track that seems to break the mold of the monotonous strumming on the guitar and bass with a mild interlude from the drums is “Total Hut.” “Total Hut” features more deliberate fingering and the song is plucked out, so it has a Mexican flavor to it. And, in the middle of the song, the producers shift the guitar and bass into different channels, so one ear gets one sound and the other gets the other instrument and the back and forth is playful and musically clever.

That one track, though, is not enough for me to recommend The Nudes.

For other instrumental albums, please check out my reviews of:
The Red Violin Soundtrack
Greatest Hits - Chopin
The Last Of The Mohicans Soundtrack

4/10

© 2011, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.





| | |