I purposely gave it a listen before trying to get any information about the musicians involved and I’m glad I did. The first thing I thought upon listening was it had some Zappa influence. So it was no surprise to find out there was a Zappa connection with these guys. It was also clear from the first listen that drums and keyboards were the featured instrumentation even without knowing anything about the musicians involved.
I never know what to think about albums like this. I can appreciate it from an artistic perspective and there is a clear high level of musicianship going on here. Maybe that should be enough? But there is an entire world full of amazing musicians so what is it that would make me come back to this? Or maybe I’m not expected to come back to this? There is variety to spare so there is nothing boring about the album. It appeals to the technical musician side of me but I don’t really form any kind of emotional connection with it and I guess that’s the part I struggle with. I don’t come away with any particular melodies stuck in my head. I don’t understand a word of what anybody is saying in the few cases where there are lyrics except the kids voice or whatever at the beginning and end. And to be honest , I don’t really know if that was meant to be funny or what was going on there. I’m not saying I have to form an emotional connection with an album but I have to feel something. It’s very possible that these guys are just so beyond me musically that I just don’t get it.
I might appreciate it more seeing them play live but this is not an album I’m going to sit down and listen to after this. And yet I did not dislike it at all. I was glad I listened to it and I did listen more than once. I almost feel like I need 2 scores. One score for the “would I recommend this to someone else, would I listen to it again?” and the “from an artistic perspective”.
But to split the difference I am going with:
6.0/10