Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Review

They do what they do best on their self titled 3^rd album

 

In an interview with Billboard earlier this year, Alex Ebert, the mastermind and founder of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros (ESMZ), said “We're starting to mature in a weird way, a bit late in the game, but it's a good feeling.” The band's upcoming release demonstrates an intricacy and patience that can only come with maturity. There isn't a blockbuster track like the 2009 hit “Home”, but the album is much more consistent than their previous efforts. ESMZ still explore the sounds and enthusiasm of the early sixties, but in a way that feels fresh and current.

The album starts off strong with “Better Days”, a sweet love song with a full sound. You can practically see young love blossom as Ebert sings, “Just know that every time I look in your eye/I see better, I see better, better days”. “Let's Get High” is a pothead's anthem in the winking way of Bob Dylan's “Rainy Day Women”, never officially endorsing drug use while celebrating the freedom of getting high on life and love. The sixties aren't the only reference point from which influence is drawn. “If I Were Free” has an eighties island vibe that would be perfect background music for Tom Cruise as he falls in love with Elizabeth Shue in “Cocktail” where as Motown and soul infiltrate the traveling song “Country Calling”. 

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Coachella 2010

ESMZ are in danger of falling into the Rusted Root effect of adding a lot of odd instruments to fill out their sound and stage. The richness of the organ and percussion is nice, but the slide whistle borders on ridiculous. The horns on “Life Is Hard” are arranged at strange intervals that become unpleasant to the ears, perhaps that's the intention to emphasize the difficulties one encounters in life, but ultimately it made the track a skipper.

 

The production on this album is astounding and if I didn't know any better, I would think that it was released in the sixties. It sounds like real analog music, before everything became digitized and flawless. Every song isn't a hit, but what is an album without the deeper cuts. Alex Ebert and his band of merry musician's have written a complex album that fans (and festival goers) will love.