Unknown Mortal Orchestra - "Multi-Love"

I'm a sucker for magical realism in any medium of art.  The seemingly natural state of things flipped on its head with a moment of the unreal.  I think of all artistic techniques, it's the subtle use of magical realism that excites the most.  On the newest offering from Unknown Mortal Orchestra, everything feels natural as the track opens with a synth restrained to the point of sounding like an electrified baby piano.  Ruban Nielson's voice is calm and develops in its natural state of ease.  Then these punchy drums lead to the synths taking flight, an over the top funk bass plodding along, with Ruban taking his vocals in and out of high/low emotional peaks resulting in the natural competing with the magical; the simple synth from the intro giving way to layers and layers of small synths peaking in and out of the track.

This should be of no surprise as Unknown Mortal Orchestra broke onto the music scene with a debut album featuring guitar tones I've never heard before or the use of funk as emotional observation on their album II. Unknown Mortal Orchestra can be granted the highest form of critical praise which is to say they sound like nothing but themselves.  On "Multi-Love", the sounds are exciting and new, but it's the playfulness of walking the line between the familiar and the unknown where Unknown Mortal Orchestra shines.  This track moves in and out of these small exciting movements, tied together by Unknown Mortal Orchestra's brilliant (and at this point consistent) use of magical realism to redefine the normal sounds that have floated around the music world for decades.  There are few, if any, more exciting bands than Unknown Mortal Orchestra writing music today.

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