Exposé Online banner

Exposé Online

Not just outside the box, but denying the existence of boxes.
Covering music from the fringes since 1993.

Reviews

Ifsounds — MMXX
(Bandcamp Melodic Revolution, 2023, CD / DL)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2023-08-17

MMXX Cover art

It has been five years since ifsounds released their previous album, An Gorta Mór. Now the band has released their seventh album, MMXX. It has been a long musical journey for ifsounds, starting in 1993 and with their first album in 2006. The global pandemic inspired the band to create music that concerns coming back together, renewing relationships, and rebuilding the human touch through choral music. They tried to translate sensations and fears of the Covid days into music and words via the four tracks on MMXX:  “MMXX,” “The Collector,” “Stendhal Syndrome,” “Kandinsky’s Sky,” and “MMXXII.” Similar to An Gorta Mór, the MMXX title track is a monumental 24-minute suite with Italian lyrics, a capella choruses, organ, swirling electronics, jazz, and lush symphonic prog that never bores the listener. I did learn something new from MMXX, Stendahl Syndrome is a psychosomatic condition involving a rapid heartbeat, fainting, confusion, and even hallucinations allegedly caused by an exposure to beautiful objects or artwork. However, I did not find the song of the same title that interesting. It does have an 80s vibe with a heavy beat. “Kandinsky’s Sky” is a reference to the expressionist artist’s most famour painting, as well as evoking comparisons to Al Stewart. And the album closer “MMXXII” is another longish piece with multiple movements, strong construction, and odd background electronic sounds. In addition, ifsounds created videos for each of the tracks. Unfortunately, most of them are a challenge to watch with the constantly morphing images. And I found the video for “MMXXII” to be of extremely poor taste with its inclusion of the video of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986. I just don’t see the connection between that clip, the war images of infantry and bombing, and the music. To me, the album is a bit uneven, though worth investigating as long as you overlook the videos.

Filed under: New releases, 2023 releases

Related artist(s): Ifsounds / If

More info
http://ifsounds.bandcamp.com/album/mmxx

 

What's new

These are the most recent changes made to artists, releases, and articles.