Unknown Mortal Orchestra return radiantly, glowing with Multi-Love

With Multi-Love, Unknown Mortal Orchestra mastermind Ruban Nielson is at the top of his game. As usual, Nielson’s not making a fuss about it. Love does wonders in songwriting, and better times are audible in Multi-Love’s lackadaisical saxophone solos, crunchy riffs, and warm, muted vocals. Joined by his band members and musically-reunited with his brother Kody, Nielson creates a cohesive masterpiece; he’s made a positively radiant 360 from the post-tour blues exhibited on II (2013).

For Nielson, the project was inward facing from the get-go—the lyrics serving primarily as blunt projections of his psyche. As a result, debut tape Unknown Mortal Orchestra (2011) arrived as a scattered compilation of metaphorical observations (“Jello and Juggernauts”) and hesitant questions (“How Can U Luv Me”).

Unknown Mortal Orchestra wield a double-edged sword in their genre, connecting with listeners through layered lo-fi recordings of lyrical and instrumental magnificence. At first, proclaiming oneself as an alligator (“Thought Ballune”) hardly seems like a good icebreaker, but statements like these were why the band’s self-titled debut became a gem of the interwebs. That listeners didn’t write this debut record off as an acid trip is a testament to the intricacies, spontaneity, and frequent youthfulness of adult human thought.

Nielson tells them:

“I want to just say that this isn’t a chronicle of my life during last year. This album is about love and music and the world we live in right now. I wrote these songs about you, not about me. It’s not really a navel gazing record, it’s about celebration and the weird truth. I really believe that creativity has a psychic role to play in some kind of revolution and I’m convinced the ruling class isn’t scared of things like terrorism or fundamentalism, they’re scared of things like unity and empathy and lateral thinking. And that’s what I wanted to make an album about. But anyway I hope these jams make you happy and give you power.”

On Multi-Love, the thought projections are more focused at a single theme of love and, more specifically, polyamoury, inspired by—if not about—a distinct timeframe in Nielson’s recent history. (David Bevan over at Pitchfork delves into the details.) Again, Nielson tells us from the start, “It’s not that this song’s about her / All songs are about her” as infectious percussion and plucky, lackadaisical guitar on the title track evoke somewhat nonsensical scenery—from a basement studio, Nielson has conceived daisy-filled timelessness.

The dreamy quality of Multi-Love’s “super-fi” production makes for easy listening and closed-eye dancing. “Ur Life One Night” delivers an unconventional melodic progression that, syncopated as is, earworms like mad. If there’s one thing Nielson never ceases to amaze with, it’s jangly, singular hooks: “Can’t Keep Checking My Phone” is the record’s second single pinnacle in this respect. The other long title on Multi-Love, “Extreme Wealth and Casual Cruelty” delivers some indirect commentary about inequality in a hushed whisper. It is followed by “The World is Crowded” in which Nielson makes the titular observation, then asks “Did your doctor prescribe me?” Clever.

Although Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s third release is overwhelmingly positive and hopeful, it maintains a depth common to subterranean and late night production. The guitar lines crawl across the tracks with spidery legs and there are few diatonic or entirely consonant melodies; the keyed bridge in “Stage or Screen” is a warbly detour before this track veers off course completely at the 2:30 mark, shifting into REM sleep or something. Who knows? To use Ruban’s own words, “I don’t want to solve your puzzle anymore” (“Puzzles”).

It doesn’t really matter how exactly he’s done it, but Multi-Love has effectively combined the best of all previous work and packaged it into an organic unit both lyrically and musically. It’s an enrapturing development for Nielson and is expected to lead to more interesting live performances (the band returns to North America from Europe June 2; no dates yet in the Bay Area), but we’re in no rush to hear what’s next. Instead, we’re taking it one day at a time with this one.

Multi-Love is out May 26 via Jagjaguwar.

Article by Joanna Jiang