Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros ~ Up From Below
Written by Brent Conley
I admit that I tried to resist this album. I had heard little bits and pieces of it and liked what I heard, but something about it didn’t compel me to sit down and give it a listen. Then one day I was at my local indie record store and found it on their listening station
I put the headphones on, pressed play and was hooked. I would describe their sound as Freak Folk but with a little more attitude and angst. The protagonist throughout the album is a flawed messianic figure named Edward Sharpe. His tales of love and lust and utopia are told over a soundtrack which harkens back to the late sixties and early seventies. The images created are so vivid that you can almost see them driving through desert in a little white bus, all 10 of them jammed in, singing and dancing and having a great time.
There are songs on this hippie soundtrack which do sound almost divine. “40 Day Dream” is soulful and playful. I love this song. I really love the lyrics, which include the lines “Nobody better pinch me, Bitch I swear I’ll go crazy” and “I inhaled just a little bit, got no fear of death now.” The guitar-driven “Home” leads off with a girl whistling. The guitar creates a riff which builds like a wave easing the vocals into a sing-along about finding home in the eyes of your lover. “Jade” and “Simplest Love” showcase a beautiful tender side. “Carries On” and “Janglin” prove that great pop music can still be created using simple melodies and understated instrumentation.
These guys have fun making music together and you feel like one of the family when you listen to it. Sometimes it veers a little bit into something that sounds like a sort of Brady Bunch cult thing, but even those moments are great. I like when you listen to an album and it doesn’t show it’s self to you right away. With Up from Zero you have to listen to it in its entirety to appreciate the subtleness. There is beauty and honor and humor. I hope this album isn’t overlooked by you as it was for me.
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