Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s fifth studio album, V, begins with a wistful, dreamlike and isolated melody, later branching out to a fast-paced modulated version of the same melody. Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s frontrunner, Ruban Nielson, crafted its lyrics and melodies with his childhood memories in mind. Nielson, who hails from a family of musicians not unfamiliar with touring across the globe, zeroed in on the lush visuals and ideas drawn from locations like California and Hawaii, where he recorded the album. Nielson began to work on the album in 2019, and thus, spent a large amount of time reflecting on his life with his family, who assisted with the album’s instrumentals, by his side.
Crafting melodies that stick is, unsurprisingly, a talent of Nielson’s, and is constantly at work throughout the album. Nielson has often made it a point to match his lyrics with the rhythms and quirks of his melodies; in “Guilty Pleasures,” a complicated set of instrumentals back his vocals, which are drawn-out and sparse. At the same time though, lyrics are significant in where they are placed and what they mean–for example, “Guilty Pleasures” ends in an unusually ethereal outro after Nielson sings the line “Rise and shine / It’s a wonderful day.”
Notably, the track “In The Rear View” has several significant parts that create an illustrious story. It begins in a familiar fashion, with a captivating melody and lyrics to match. However, the rhythms begin to repeat poignantly, shifting the focus to Nielson’s vocals. Again, the lines “I was your favorite / Nothing is sacred / All is fair in love…” are the catalysts for a dramatic change in the instrumentals–instead of a quick undercurrent, they become the ethereal, dissonant and smoky chords already seen in prior tracks. Nielson, emphasizing this fact, repeats the word “love” three times, topping off the change in atmosphere with a gentle staccato.
There are four instrumental tracks on V, all their own unique showcase of Nielson’s musical ability and skill in making several instruments work in harmony to create captivating and warm melodies. Interestingly, the keyboard is front and center in the majority of these tracks, giving them a timbre reminiscent of 1970s R&B music. “Keaukaha,” on the other hand, is a standout within these tracks, its muffled sounds appear as though they were played in a trance. Much like the other tracks on the album, though, these instrumental breaks pair well with the overall relaxed atmosphere Nielson has conveyed.
Later on in the album, Nielson’s ability to create memorable instrumentals becomes extremely familiar, venturing slightly into predictability. “The Beach” and “Nadja” bear this fact in mind as they define themselves as ventures away from the rhythms of the album’s opening acts. “The Beach” has a formulaic structure, with a chorus and instrumentals that repeat themselves, but are a pleasant surprise as this is an entirely new idea in the album. “Nadja,” on the other hand, is a melancholic monologue, with a higher sense of emotive energy from Nielson’s vocals.
V’s penultimate track, “I Killed Captain Cook,” is an effective prelude to the ending of the album as it is the only track that is solely composed of acoustics and Nielson’s vocals. Its lyrics, which are short and end early on in the track, read like a fairy tale of sorts instead of an arrangement of lines. The track’s epilogue–after the words “With Cook’s blood on my hand / The spell was broken there”–is another hazy outro, almost as if Nielson is signing off on the story, and the album itself, with his own name.
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