Sea Lion Album Review

I entered this assignment blind and was pleasantly surprised by what I encountered. This the second album by The Ruby Suns. I felt myself being time warped to the 1960’s during the drug induced experimental musical period that included such bands as The Beatles, The Small Faces, and Donavon to name a few. Having not lived through this era I conjured up images of hippie filled rooms with smiley faces and a lust for life that was evident of the baby boomer era. Tane Mahuta caught my ear with its rasping drum and bass beat, brought alive by the melodic happy guitar rift., There Are Birds, enlightens the sense’s with its gritty bass line start, definitely a better choice for opening song of the album rather than Blue Penguin, which I felt let down the album due to its lack luster inspiration for me to want to listen on till the end, Remember brings you down a level and allows you to sit back and be taken away by the relaxing beat and soft harmonies. If you have not succumbed to the fairy dust you will on their next track, the sleepy yet gradually inspiring sounds of Ole Rinha. The final three songs encompass a beautiful ending to a very nicely put together album, with its only fault being a lack luster start

The one question all songs and albums should try to answer is ‘Can this music change, or enhance my mood’? The answer is yes, their style of music enables the listener to sit back and wind down in an almost hypnotic state but still be aware of their surroundings. My favourite song on the album is Oh Mojave, visions of blue skies and happy faces perpetrated my mind. Unfortunately Blue Penguin was not only a bad choice of opening song, but should never have got on the playlist.

I do not like to give a rating on songs or albums as there is no set criteria to base it upon. Music is so broad and subjective a rating scale can become problematic so with that said is it a buy or a no buy. A BUY.