Shpongle – Museum of Consciousness (Album Review)

UPDATE 7/31/13: Listen to a full-stream of “Museum of Consciousness” now!

Oh Shpongle, how I have missed you. Three long years since any new Shpongle music, Simon Posford and Raja Ram finally release “Museum of Consciousness”, a journey through multiple musical dimensions. Fans of Shpongle will be in love with this album; it sounds like the Shpongle we’ve come to know and love over the years, just with better production, cleaner synthesis, and a broader use of instruments. The seven tracks contained on “Museum of Consciousness” are the perfect combinations of instruments and electronification (did I just make that word up?) to please ears all around the world. It seems Posford and Ram put all the right ingredients into their Shpongley cauldron for this album.

Shpongle has been playing tracks off this album for quite some time, even as far back as mid-2012 when I heard him open his Starscape set with “Brain In A Fishtank”. The duo obviously have put a lot of time and effort into each of these tracks; you’ll never find any cookie-cutter songs with Shpongle. Each track is in itself takes you and sends you off to somewhere completely foreign, yet has a feeling that you can relate with. Described as “world music”, the duo uses all sorts of techniques and instruments to make tracks that are extremely unique and mind-blowing.

Shpongle, The Canopy Club, Urbana, Illinois, “Brain In a Fishtank”, September 2012You may be thinking, “Only seven tracks? Thats a lame album,” but rest assured, the shortest track on this album is 6:21 (Further Adventures in Shpongleland) with the longest being 11:50 (Celestial Delights). I personally feel that this Shpongle album is the most electronically-infused release the two have put out yet, but perhaps that is more of a product of the changing times than of their own personal decision. The live instrumentation is still there, but they add minute synthesis to a lot of the instruments, giving it a robotic yet human feel.

Its almost hard to review the songs because you find yourself getting so lost in them, but that is surely what Posford and Ram wanted. The album begins with “Brain In A Fishtank” which takes you on your initial journey into the world of Shpongle, sending you down the wormhole. Quick percussion, a bit of “dark” atmosphere and entrancing strings make this a great start to the album. “How the Jellyfish Jumped the Mountain” starts off slow but slowly builds, and then goes all over the place. Towards the 6-minute mark this song features some really cool effects combining strings and flangy synth that is unlike anything you’ve ever heard before. The album begins to pick up tempo at the end of that track and into “Juggling Molecules”, which features strong, echoing drums and some deep, mesmerizing vocals that will surely have you hypnotized. “Celestial Delights” is a long-drawn out journey, relaxing at parts with soothing vocals, strings and ethereal pads and then rough at parts with hard percussion and dark-sounding synths.

“Further Adventures in Shpongleland” may be a reference to the duo’s last album, “Ineffable Memories in Shpongleland” and is a track filled with electronic elements. Synthesized instruments are abound in this track. “The Epiphany of Mrs Kugla” may be the most epic track of the album, as Posford said himself in reference to a question on Facebook:

“For those of you who are downloading the new album, i have one request:
When you listen to the track “The Epiphany of Mrs Kugla”, please sit between the speakers and turn it up SUPER LOUD! We designed it for the BLAST effect! If you can’t play it loud, i suggest waiting….. you only get one chance at the KUGLA EFFECT!”

The Kugla Effect is surely a real thing. Listen to this song with heavy-bass speakers and you will know. Deep, powerful strings make this track extremely emotionally driven and thought-provoking. The final track, “Tickling the Amygdala” marks the end of our excursion into the land of Shpongle. Hopefully your brain is still in-tact. This last song is pure psychedelia, with what appears to be a random assortment of modulated synth turning to a lovely exit from the album. The last song has a “light” feel to it compared to a lot of the darker songs on this album. Posford and Ram have truly crafted this album to not just be a collection of songs, but a musical odyssey that is meant to be listened all the way through.

While this album has leaked on the internet, you can still buy “Museum of Consciousness” and support these guys for always putting as much as they possibly can into the music they create. Plus, if you order a hard-copy CD or vinyl, it comes with an awesome lenticular 3D cover.

Full album stream coming soon!

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