Mind Field

Forgetful Alien

Independent release, 2012

http://www.myspace.com/forgetfulalien

REVIEW BY: Vish Iyer

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 01/19/2013

On this fourth release by New York City based Forgetful Alien, there are no surprises. The band continues with their style of mixing indie rock with the classic psychedelic sounds of prog-rock, resulting in melodious songs that have a hint of nostalgia of the big stadium bands of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Group frontman Paul Madden still coos and squeaks and sounds like a kind and gentle lost alien, his voice reverberating in harmonic unison with the sweetness of the music. However, although my_heart_sings_the_harmony_web_ad_alt_250 Mind Field is not any sort of a major departure from the band’s previous works, it is this outfit’s strongest effort.

To begin with, the production work is a step forward from the previous albums. The sounds are lusher and have more depth to them; the music just sounds so much better than it did before. But at the same time, this release is not without flaws. For example, the track “Slippin’ Away” has a flat sound, which makes the hungry guitars nevertheless sound limp. Such is the case with “I Saw You Alone” and “Green” as well, where the flair of the guitars never quite hits home due to the lack of punch in the way these cuts are mixed. But aside from a few minor blemishes, this album in general has far better songs.

There is no one song on Mind Field that is extraordinarily mind-blowing, but there are a bunch of cuts that are total album standouts: although “Hook Line And Sinker” sounds uncannily like a Radiohead track, it still is a great song. “(For Your Pride) Recede,” “One Long Remembered Yesterday,” and “Forever” are a few of the most euphonious tracks by the band and easily the best in the Forgetful Alien catalog. So are “Calliope” and “Into The Center,” which still manage to sound sensitive and delicate in spite of the big drums that drive these numbers like a machine.

Not changing direction at all from their past work isn’t all that bad for this band. Even though Madden and his band have long exploited the ideas on Mind Fields in the past, this time, however, it has yielded far better music than ever before.

Rating: B+

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