Mellow
another mellow spring
(Virgin)
Grade: C
Recipe for Euro techno/indie band: two parts Radiohead's electro-harmony, a pinch and a half of the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," half a pound of Smashing Pumpkins angst, and stir in three parts Pink Floyd with every third song. Blend all ingredients and place on a shelf for three years, minimum.
The French band Mellow isn't required to stick to this recipe on its debut album, another mellow spring, but unfortunately does. In an attempt to oddly equate itself to mainstream techno-bands, it only dabbles in its strongest points and talents.
The album opens with the track "Shinda Shima," an anger-ridden track, but pregnant with possibility from its stand-out drummer, Pierre Begon-Lours. Lours has a genuine talent, and is certainly not utilized for the best interests of the group.
The track "Paris Sous La Neige" is the album's best hope for a hit. A catchy chorus, accompanied by an upbeat tempo, topped off with superb riffs makes this Mellow song better than the norm.
In a damaging 180-degree turn, though, Mellow retreats to hard-core, techno-enhanced instrumentation on the remainder of the tracks. The result is an album like a patchwork quilt of laptop-inspired grooves and heavily remastered voice-overs.
Mellow has talent, and it knows it, but remixing samples of its best song "Paris Sous La Neige" three times on three separate tracks is not artistry at its best. Its harmony is tight, its melodies mostly smooth and its transitions organized.
Rather than pigeon-holing itself into the genre of independent new-age rock, Mellow can blossom into a mainstream band with the promise of being heard in multiple venues, other than over the airwaves of an Urban Outfitters store.
-Vanessa Francis
